


THE DEVIL, ALTHEA HARGREEVES

by timeforariotghoul



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 22,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28283385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeforariotghoul/pseuds/timeforariotghoul
Summary: Number Eight: The Devil, Althea Hargreeves is in for a handful when she comes home for her father's funeral. Reunited with her siblings and the same old drama that follows it.Which now includes saving the world from the apocalypse and escaping whatever else the world throws at the Umbrella Academy.The Netflix/Comic Book Series you know and love, with an additional character for the sake of fun and allowing yourself to join in on the Hargreeves family.ORIGINALLY ON WATTPAD, IN PROCESS OF MOVING ONTO AO3
Kudos: 2





	1. the characters

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY

NUMBER ONE: Spaceboy/Luther Hargreeves  
"Protective & Righteous", whose abilities include superhuman strength.

NUMBER TWO: The Kraken/Diego Hargreeves  
"Rebellious, Impulsive & Brash", who deep down wants to prove himself. Abilities include being able to curve or stop anything he throws.

NUMBER THREE: The Rumor/Allison Hargreeves   
"Determined, with a Kind Heart and Strong Values." Often displayed in times in family drama. Abilities include: the power to manipulate reality by saying the words "I heard a rumor.."

NUMBER FOUR: The Séance/Klaus Hargreeves   
"Fun Loving, Yet an Unreliable, Drug Addict and often times Leech." His refusal time be a "hero" or to change leads to his dismissal at the hands of family. Abilities include communicating with the dead.

NUMBER FIVE: The Boy/Five Hargreeves   
"A Genius, Frustrated to be trapped in a small child's body." Who often views his family members as inferior to himself. Abilities include teleporting through time and space, (which is proven to be unreliable.)

NUMBER SIX: The Horror/Ben Hargreeves   
"Introverted, Sensitive, Sweet and Dead" His love for family is seen time and time again as he chooses to stick with Klaus and try to help him. Abilities include the power to summon and control tentacle like creatures from a portal located in his stomach.

NUMBER SEVEN: The White Violin/Vanya Hargreeves   
"Often left out and now searching for Normalcy." Being left out of the spotlight for so long left Vanya feeling neglected and unloved. Rightfully so. Abilities include creating/controlling sound waves, telekinesis and sending out large blasts of energy.

NUMBER EIGHT: The Devil/Althea Hargreeves   
"Playful, Competitive and extremely Narcissistic." A tricky one, who wants and is well loved and received by most, especially those who don't fully know her. Abilities include the power to charm anyone when she winks, to see ones deepest desires and to grant them, or break them down completely.  
Abilities include the power to charm anyone when she winks, to see ones deepest desires and to grant them, or break them down completely


	2. introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> song for chapter: fast and frightening

_"On the first day of October, 1989, 43 women around the world simultaneously gave birth. None of the women showed any prior signs of pregnancy._   
_Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and playboy adventurer, made it his personal mission to find and adopt as many of these children as possible. He got eight of them."_

_THIRTY YEARS LATER_

I jolted up from my sleep, nearly tossing the comforter across the room. I felt as if something or someone, had choked me awake. It felt vividly real to me. A hand went to my neck and felt around, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

I looked around the bedroom quickly, the television still on in the living room and the light blazing through the crack left by the open bedroom door. Eying the open windows, the cool air slipping in and creating a slight breeze. I slipped out of my bed quickly and slammed them shut before stealthily heading to the door and eagerly opening it.

My blood pumping, slightly hoping there would be someone, an attacker, robber, anyone there. But there wasn't. There was only an empty hallway that led to the well furnished living room. There wouldn't be any more sleep tonight. Not after that. A few quick decisions led to the sofa. My eyes drifted to the television and unmuted it, switching through the channels till the top story caught my attention. I could barely hear the remote crash down onto the floor.

_"Eccentric Billionaire and Founder of the Umbrella Academy, Reginald Hargreeves, dead at 63."_

The man who'd bought me, raised me and cultivated me to become a hero or in my terms "ruined me" was dead. The father to seven other children. It was time to go home. Family matters to be discussed and reunions to be had. The tears running down my face, were they happy he was dead or were they sad? I couldn't tell. I wiped them away and snickered a little.

Glancing down at the framed photo on my coffee table, the one with the Academy as children, far before our own internal drama. I picked it up and sneered "Rest in peace Dad." before casually tossing it back onto the sofa and walked off.

I had bags to pack and a plane to now catch. I, Althea Hargreeves, Number Eight, The Devil. Was finally coming home.

_______________________________  
Hi everyone! I hope you like the introduction. Don't worry! The writing for the actual chapters will be longer. I just wanted to keep it brief, introduce you all to my writing style a little bit. The next chapter should be up! And maybe a couple more.

If you have any questions let me know in the comments! Also, I have finished season 2 and already have my ideas for it. So no need to worry, this won't be ending any time soon!!!


	3. black hole sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> soundgarden's black hole sun

Suitcase in hand, my bag in the other, I paid the taxi driver and watched him drive off, not hearing anyone else approach until I hear the words of one of my brothers, specifically Number 2, Diego.

"Need a hand? Or are you contemplating running off again?" He teases gently.

I sigh in relief and grin a little before giving him a hug, careful to not get caught in any of his knives or to get hurt. " Very funny Diego, but yes, it's nice to see you too. Wish it was under better circumstances though."

He nods his head, understanding. While we all struggled to like and love our father. He had raised us and I guess we all felt the need to pay our respects...in one way or another.

"Any idea who all decided to show up today? I'm betting with Klaus and others that Vanya won't show. Not after the shit she pulled." He adds, growing more aggressive before he stops himself.

"How much are you betting on Vanya being not being there, because I'll bet double she is coming." I say in response, already enjoying the idea of family drama.

He laughs "Deal." With that, he picks up one of my bags and we start to head into the academy, pushing open the doors and immediately hearing another conversation, between none other than Vanya and Allison.

I laugh quietly now looking over at Diego, who now looks exasperated at the fact that he's lost his bet, probably to more than one person. I watch him sit my bag down and start storming in the direction of the two voices.

"Diego, what the hell are you doing?" I practically hiss.

"Going to give her a piece of my mind Al, that's what" He keeps walking and I follow after him, grabbing on his arm to stop him.

"It's a fucking funeral, you can wait to lay into her. Seriously."

He scowls "She can't just show up and act like nothing happened! You of all people should know that."

I just stare at him, thinking for a minute before going to snap my fingers. He looks down and grabs my hand quickly . "Let me handle this. Please."

I sigh and nod my head, following him into the main living room where our two sisters stood, we heard Allison say "I'm glad you're here." Just before Diego interrupts

"What is she doing here? Not after what you did." Diego asked, first directed towards Allison, before looking straight to Vanya.

I bite down on my lip, holding back any laughter I had. It was well known that I held a grudge against Vanya. It had become known extensively after she published her book.

Allison scoffs "You're seriously going to do this today? Way to dress for the occasion by the way." Diego, like always is dressed in his "uniform". Knives and all. She turns to me and gives a small smile as Diego walks up the stairs

"At least I'm wearing black." He says as he reaches the top of the stairs.

"Jesus! Diego I said wait." I yell after him

"Wait? You're with him on this?" Allison said softly.

I glance over at Vanya with a blank expression. Not sure what to say, because I wasn't going to be apologizing for anything, anyone had said.

I was always a little jealous of Vanya. She didn't have to save the world, fight crime or train. She just had a violin and a bedtime.  
None of us ever had that small bit of normalcy. It made me despise her a bit more. Especially now that I was reminded of the book. Maybe I should've egged Diego on.

Before either Allison or Vanya can say anything to me or to each other. I grab my bag and suitcase and say "It's nice to see you again Allison." Shunning Vanya completely.

Making my way down the halls to my old bedroom, I enter my room, and take my coat off, hanging it on the coat rack, and go to examine myself in the full length mirror. No longer a child, but a grownup. Dressed my red skirt, platforms and black tank top and ripped up tights.

Opening the closet I found my old uniforms, old masks and everything. I was intrigued for a few seconds before slamming the door shut once more. Reminding myself of how much I hated looking back on my childhood. Yet here I was trapped in my childhood home for my father's funeral. How ironic.

I plop down on the bed and rub my eyes, wanting to sleep before dealing with the others, jet lagged from my flights and this time, able to sleep without the fear of not waking up or being choked. Within minutes it's worked and I'm under.

HOURS LATER

I was the last one to enter the living room and internally groaned when I spotted Luther. I had hoped he'd stay on the moon. I softly grumbled "I'm gonna need a drink to get through this." And happily smiled when I was handed one by Klaus.

Luther makes eye contact with me before starting off, most likely annoyed that I'd come late to the family meeting, or whatever the hell we were doing.

Diego rolls his eyes before saying "Can we hurry this along?"

"I thought we could have a service at sundown, in the courtyard. Out by dad's favorite spot." Luther said calmly.

I gape at him and clearly everyone else is confused as well.

"Dad had a favorite spot?" Allison questions

"The big oak tree? He, um.. used to take me out there and we'd sit and...talk about. None of you ever did that?"

I clap my hands together and joke "Well we all know who's getting the most out of their inheritance."

This earns a laugh from Klaus and some snickers from Diego and Vanya.

Luther glares at me again and then says "Althea. There are more important things to discuss right now."

Klaus cuts him off "Question, will there be refreshments? Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner." To my delight, Klaus plopped down next to me, drink and cigarette in hand.

"Right..no, put that out, you know how dad didn't allow smoking in here." Luther says irritated.

"Is that my skirt?" Allison asks looking over Klaus's appearance.

"What? Oh yeah, this. I found it in your room. It's a little dated, but a bit breathy on the bits." He adds with a grin.

I take a sip of my drink and snicker a little, pleased with the way this whole conversation was going.

Luther scowls once again saying "Everyone listen up. We still have some very important things to discuss."

"Like what?" Diego asks, turning his attention from Klaus over to him.

"Like Dad. And how he died."

I immediately roll my eyes.

"And here we go" Diego chimes in, I follow up by saying "Luther, are you sure the moon hasn't rotted your brain at this point? I mean it's been years."

Klaus nods along and then Vanya says "I thought it was a heart attack?"

"According to the coroner."

"Well wouldn't they know?" Vanya asks.

"Theoretically." Luther adds

"Theoretically?" Allison looks confused

"Look I'm just saying that at the very least, something happened. The last time I talked to Dad he sounded strange."

"Strange how?" Allison asks while everyone ignores Klaus's behavior. It wasn't beyond him to act weird.

"He sounded on edge! Told me to be careful of who I trust."

"Like that isn't normal?" I ask before adding on "Come on Luther, are you sure your brain hasn't rotted from all those years on the moon?"

"Luther, he was a paranoid bitter old man, who was starting to loose what was left of his marbles."

"Thank you!" I call out, growing tired of Luther already.

"No! He must've known something was going to happen. Look, I know you don't like to do it. But I need you to try and talk to Dad." He says looking directly at Klaus.

He frowns before leaning back "I can't just call Dad in the afterlife and be like 'Dad could you just stop playing Tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?"

"Since when? That's your thing?"

"You can't really see outside of your own box, can you?" I ask curiously

"I'm not in..the right frame of mind!" Klaus exclaims

"You're high?" Allison asks as if it's out of the ordinary for him.

"Yeah.. Yeah! How are you not, listening to this nonsense?"

"Well sober up. This is important. Then there's the issue of the missing monocle." Luther scowls, towering over everyone in the room.

"The monocle?" I ask, loosing more and more interest in the conversation.

"Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?" Diego mutters

"Exactly. It's worthless. So whoever took it, I think it was personal. Someone close to him." He looks at everyone in the room.

"Someone with a grudge." He stops his sentence, eyes on me.

I lean forward and glare at him just as Klaus asks "Where are you even taking this?"

"Well isn't it obvious Klaus? He thinks one of us killed Dad."

Not just anyone. He already had his suspicions and I felt like I was on his list of suspects. Even though I'd been across the country for years now.

Luther doesn't answer. But his look confirms it. "How could you think that?" Vanya asks, bewildered.

"Great job Luther..way to lead." Diego says leaning in to his ear before walking off in the other direction.

"It's not what I'm saying-" he mutters.

"You're crazy man! Your crazy!" Klaus says, getting up off the couch. I follow suit and say "Might wanna have Mom check your head airhead." I tap my own head lightly before adding "It might be empty."

"I'm not finished-"

"Okay well sorry. I'm just gonna go murder mom now. I'll be right back." Klaus adds right before he stumbles a little.

"That's not what I was saying. I didn't mean for it to-"

But he was already alone. The Umbrella Academy had once again disassembled and headed off into their own direction.


	4. dangerous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> big data's dangerous.

_"This is Jim Hellerman, reporting live for Channel 2 News, outside of the West Capital Bank at Main and 6th. A group of heavily armed robbers stormed the bank not three hours ago and took an unknown number of hostages."_

"HEY! Get them behind the counter" one of the robbers called out before continuing his call and angrily shouting on the phone.

Allison snuck out towards the robber, confidently and then sweetly smiled behind him, getting his attention before saying "I heard a rumor.."

The robber angrily turned around "What? What did you say?"

She leaned in before continuing "I heard a rumor, that you shot your friend in the foot..."

There was no hesitation, he merely turned around and shot his friend in the foot. Leading to a flurry of screams coming from the man, and his friend. This, was the academy's first mission.

_"There's some movement on the roof. Possibly law enforcement."_

Of course it wasn't. It was Luther, jumping through the roof and immediately punching and hurling one of the robbers out the front window of the bank.

_"Looks like one of the armed robbers has been thrown out of the bank."_

This was the Umbrella Academy at its start. Kids with hope, kids who genuinely believed they were going to make the world a better place for everyone involved.

Diego runs in "Guns are for sissies, real men throw knives!" He calls out, throwing two and instantly killing one of the men holding his gun up, ready to shoot.

_"I've been in many hostage situations before and they can escalate very quickly"_

Althea followed in soon after, soon enough surrounded by three of the robbers. "Why don't you call off your little pals before you get hurt little girl?""

She scoffs, snaps her fingers and sends the two other robbers into unconsciousness while turning to the main one. "I know what you want..." she taunts before saying "You'll never get it." She laughs before kicking him down and winking. Leaving him to suffer on the ground.

Joining the others, Althea watches as a robber climbs on the counter and calls for them to get back. The group giggles, knowing that Five would get there quicker.

"Hey be careful up there buddy."

"Wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Finally, Five pops up, sitting behind the robber. "Or what?" He says smoothly

Teleporting right before the robber shoots his gun and then moving in front of him, changing his gun to a stapler.

"Hey! That's one badass stapler." He calls out before shoving it into his face.

_"Although there hasn't been any activity in a few minutes, we're going to stay live on location to make sure we don't miss anything."_

"Do I really have to do this?" Ben asked, hesitant to go in after the robbers, not quite happy with his abilities.

"C'mon Ben, there's more guys in the vault."

He sighs "I didn't sign up for this."   
And with that in Ben went. Seconds pass, screams ensue and blood is everywhere on the walls. As suspected.

When Ben exits, covered in blood, he timidly says "Can we go home now?" The team smiles at him, proud of him for doing his part.

_"Now we see the hostages, they're, they're free? They're scared clearly. But they do seem to be unharmed. People are coming out right now, it's not the armed robbers? These are young children in school uniforms with masks on?"_

That was when the questions started. Seven of the eight members lined up on the bank steps, answering their questions, when Reginald Hargreeves swooped in and took over, to explain his academy.

The Umbrella Academy.  
_______________________________

**_THE PRESENT_ **

No one was thrilled with Luther's theory that one of us had done it. To me it was pure lunacy. We had all been spread apart across the country, or too high or busy hating our pasts to even care about murdering Dad.

Even though he was my own brother, Luther had always annoyed me. He always seemed to think he was right every step of the way and that everything had to go his way because of course, he was number one, space boy.

As I got up, I heard a call out for me "Al! Wait up! It's been such a loooooooong time!"

Klaus. Probably my favorite brother. Just saying his name made me warm up. I'd always valued the comfort we gave each other. No matter what, we tried to be there for the other.

"Klaus. I missed you." I say softly, looking over him. Noticing the bracelet on his wrist, I decide not to say anything, knowing he was already high, drunk, or both. Not wanting to ruin the moment by asking about his adventures in rehab.

"Oh I missed you too, what's it been now?" He goes to count on his fingers and I chuckle before pulling him into a hug. He smelled like booze and complete shit. But hey. I couldn't expect anything else.

I pull away and plop down on the sofa, "you know, since it's been awhile, I'm going to make an exception and give you a present." He brightens up a bit, knowing it'll be something of use to him.

I wink and then in my hands sits Klaus's most prevalent need at the moment. Money. For him to spend on anything. Knowing him it would end up being alcohol or drugs. But I wasn't about to dictate his coping mechanisms, knowing that if I saw the dead and had to deal with them all the time, I'd probably spend everything I had on drugs too.

In a drawn out, dramatic tone, that only Klaus could pull off effortlessly he gets giddy and then says "Oh Althea! You've done it again! This makes up for all the lost gifts and time." He takes the money, smells it and then shoves it in a pocket.

I give a small smile. Part of me regretting I'd ever left. Knowing that Klaus would dig himself deeper into a hole. Maybe things would've been better if I'd stayed.

"Klaus...just try to buy at least one thing thats not drug related? Please?" I ask

He gasps frantically, putting on the works and sarcastically says "Me? Buy drugs? In this day in age Althea? Can't you see, I'm a changed man?" He dangles his bracelet in my face

"Just stay safe. You're the only one I can tolerate at times." I say chuckling

He seems to get serious for a couple of seconds before leaning over and grumbling something "Fine. Only as a gift to you. There."

With that, I lay back down into the sofa and listen to Klaus try to chat with Dad, only assuming he's messing with his urn. "Be careful with it, we don't need Luther on our asses even more. He already thinks I had something to do with it." I say.

I hear a laugh and then assume that Klaus had walked away. God it was good to be home. I grab a pillow and put it on top of my face. Trying to get comfortable and ignore the fact that I was even here. Let alone for my father's funeral.

Then I heard a clang, I bolted up, looking around only to spot Klaus a few feet away with the urn knocked over. My eyes widen "What did you do?" I hiss.

"Try to get Dad to show up." He whimpers, looking at the mess of ashes in front of us, scattered on the table.

I sigh. "It's okay buddy. Let's just, sweep him up into the Urn and no one will ever know." I end up being the one doing most of the sweeping while Klaus watched timidly.

I slam the lid back on the urn and hand it to Klaus. "Be careful. Please. I'm not babysitting you or the Urn."

With that, I head to the bathroom, needing to calm down and refresh myself because hell, I felt like I was going back in time to when I was a physical child.

"Get a grip Althea. You're just here for a funeral." I mutter, turning the sink on and splashing the cold water on my face, looking into the mirror.

After staring for a few seconds, I hear it. The similar beat and words to a song I hadn't heard in years. Tiffany's "I think we're alone now."

I sighed. Staring in the mirror for a few seconds. Not sure what I was even doing. I could give up the serious act for a few seconds. That's what I wanted? Right?

I proceeded to wink at myself in the mirror. It would only last for as long as the song. Which was all I could afford for the moment. There was still a Memorial to attend.

I find myself drifting off into the song, mindlessly dancing along and lip syncing as if I was back in time, and the academy was a whole and my family hadn't crumbled into pieces. God it felt good.

_"Trying to get away into the night...then you put your arm around me and we tumble to the ground and then you say...."_

Jumping around on the tile floor and looking back at myself excitedly in the mirror, I continued to dance around.

" _I think we're alone now....there doesn't seem to be anyone around..."_

I felt like I was dancing with my reflection. I wasn't alone. It certainly didn't feel like it.

_"I think we're alone now, the beating of our hearts is the only sound."_

I giggled ecstatically, happy with everything in the moment. Successfully having let go of everything that was bothering me.

Then the song suddenly stopped a few moments later. I frowned, all of the stupid bliss fading. "Damn." I mumble. Only to see a blue light or something peeking out from under the door.

I run out and down the hall and into the living room to spot Diego heading down another hallway that led to the courtyard. Following behind me, I can see all of my other siblings. "What the hell is going on?" I yell confused.

No one seems to have any idea of what is happening right in front of our eyes.

Then everything went to hell. Things started shaking and the lights began to flicker.

Followed by everyone else, finally outside of the academy we are staring at a rip in the sky? Vanya asks the question we've all been thinking.

"What is that?" She yells over the loud cracking coming from the hole

"Don't get too close!" Allison says, sticking an arm in front of Luther, holding him back from the, the thing?

I roll eyes and yell "No shit Sherlock!"

"It looks like some sort of temporal anomaly. Either that or a miniature black hole." Luther says confusedly."

"Pretty big difference there." Diego says loudly

Klaus comes running out and jumps in front of everyone, armed with a fire dispenser, ready to shoot it. "Out of my way!" He screams, getting in position. He sprays a little of it before deciding to toss it into the hole.

"What is that supposed to do?" Allison yells,

"I don't know! Do you have a better idea?" Klaus says in defeat, raising his hands up, staring at the hole.

"Klaus if we die I'm blaming it on you," I yell angrily turning to him

The hole starts glowing brighter and starts to make the wind go even faster than before. Everyone shares a glare directed towards Klaus.

Luther then directs everyone to get behind him. Which everyone does eagerly, because if someone has to go, I'm pretty sure everyone would be fine with Luther. Or at least I would be.

Then as soon as it came, it vanished and standing in front of us, on the ground stood Five. We hadn't seen him in over a decade. All of me wanted to break down and cry, because Five was here. He didn't look a day of 13 or how he did when he left either.

But, I kept a calm face and simply said "Would you look at that?"

"Holy shit"

"Does anyone else see little Number Five or is that just me?"

I chuckled at Klaus and then said "You're not the only one." I patted him on the back and looked down at Five.

Five looks down at himself before looking back at us and says "shit." As if nothing was wrong with him falling out of the sky.


	5. i will survive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gloria gaynor's i will survive

Five didn't pay us any attention as he made his way into the kitchen, leaving us all utterly confused. No one wanted to interrupt him, scared it would be a dream or something or that we'd lose him again.

"What's the date? The exact date." He says, grabbing a loaf of bread.

"The twenty fourth." Allison says, the rest of us too stunned to say anything at all.

"Of what?" He snaps

"Of March?" She questions

He continues to unwrap his bread and start making what appears to be his favorite kind of sandwich. "Good."

"So are we going to talk about what just happened?" Luther asks, trying to regain control of the situation.

"It's been seventeen years." Luther speaks up

Five stops dead in his tracks and looks over Luther completely, unbothered by his stance in front of him.

"It's been a lot longer than that." He retorts before he chooses to teleport past Luther and to the fridge.

"I haven't missed that." Luther adds. Not enjoying the fact that Five is refusing to listen to him.

"Where'd you go?" Diego asks half heartedly.

"The future. It's shit by the way." Five answers quickly, heading back to start piecing his sandwich together.

"Called it..." Klaus says, waving his finger around in the air.

I watch as Klaus elbows Diego and watch as he hands him $5. I whisper to him "You seriously bet on this too?" He rolls his eyes before saying "you didn't?"

"I should've listened to the old man, you know, jumping through space is one thing, but time is a toss of the dice."

"Wait, how did you get back?" Vanya asks, still trying to piece everything together.

He starts spreading the peanut butter onto the bread as he talks "in the end I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum version of myself that exists in several possible instances of time."

Diego looks visibly lost, much like the rest of us. "That makes no sense."

I jab him in the ribs and mouth "shut it." not wanting him to get Five to stop talking. It looked like there was more to the story.

"It would if you were smarter." Five says, I watch as Luther holds Diego back from going to attack Five.

"How long were you there?"

"45 years, give or take." He shrugs, looking down at the almost finished product in front of him.

"So what are you saying? That you're 58? I butt into the conversation, amazed with the whole thing. Luther sits down, in shock with what our no longer missing brother is saying.

Five glances up and says "Actually Althea, you're incorrect. My consciousness is 58. My body is 13 again."

"How does that even work?" Vanya asks

"Dolores kept saying the equations were off." He remarks, looking off into space, gripping onto his sandwich tightly.

"Whose Dolores?" I ask

He takes a bite of his sandwich and says "an old friend."

He grabs the newspaper in front of him and shrugs, reading the headline about our father. "Guess I missed the funeral then."

"How'd you know about that?" Luther asks confusedly.

"Did you miss the part about the future?" I ask Luther. Sometimes I wondered if what he had in strength, he lacked a brain.

"Heart failure huh?" Five asks looking between Luther and Diego for an answer. 

"Yeah." "No."

"Nice to see nothing's changed." He rolls his eyes and starts walking towards the exit. No one even follows him out, only watching with their eyes.

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" Allison asks as he exits. She had a point. We didn't even get a Hello, goodbye, sorry I missed our birthdays or anything?

"What else is there to say. Circle of life." He adds with a chuckle, a slight swing in his step.

Everyone looks at each other in disbelief. "He didn't even bother to clean up his mess." I gesture to the sandwich materials left scattered among the table.

"Huh. That was interesting." Luther says, ignoring my words.  
_______________________________

The rain poured down gently and I didn't have an umbrella on me, so Klaus pulled me under his little pink and clear umbrella. I smiled a little and looked at Luther, as he held the Urn tightly.

Mom looked confused as everyone stood out in the rain, trying to muster up some sort of respect for our father. "Did something happen?" She asks

"Dad died. Remember?" Allison said, all of us exchanged a look as she said this. It had been so long, had Mom been broken just like us? Had we never noticed?

"Oh yes...of course." She replied. I looked over at Diego, spotting him looking over mom carefully, as if he was upset.

"Is mom okay?" Allison asks, unsure of what had just happened.

Diego quickly nods and says "Yeah. She just needs to recharge. You know."

Pogo grimaced, joining the group last. "Whenever you're ready dear boy."

The ashes fall out in clumps onto the ground pathetically and I look away not wanting to laugh or look at how his ashes didn't even spread out or anything. It was depressing.

Luther then retorts "Probably would've been better with some wind." I hum in agreement, ignoring the glare Pogo is sending towards me now.

"Does anyone wish to speak?"

There was a moment of silence. No one would've known what to say. We all had bad and terrible experiences with him. We were all somewhat ruined and broken by the man we called our father. I expected none of us to provide sympathy for him in this moment.

Pogo sighs "Very well. In all regards, Reginald Hargreeves made me the creature I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my friend, and my master and I shall miss him very much. He was a...a complicated man-"

"He was a monster. He was bad as a person and worse as a father, and the worlds better off without him." Diego says, cutting Pogo off.

I feel a tear slip down my face. Knowing it was true, but it still hurt to hear out loud and in the open air. I stared down at his ashes and sighed.

"Diego-" Allison says

"My name is Number Two because our father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names. So he had MOM do it." He looks down at the ground.

It gets uncomfortable. Everyone gets silent. Thinking about the mess we all were and the mess that had been left behind by our father.

"Would anybody like something to eat?" Mom asks after hearing her name.

"No it's okay." Vanya says gently.

I look up, still huddled around Klaus's umbrella with him. "Diego not now. We're at a memorial. His memorial."

"Althea. You of all people should understand why I'm doing this now." He turns to everyone else "Look you wanna pay your respects, go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was."

"You should stop talking now." Luther says, getting angry

Diego stops before turning to look at Luther. "Forget what I was saying to Althea. That shit applies to you. You out of everyone, should be on my side. After everything he did to you? He had to ship you a million miles away." He inches closer to Luther.

"Diego stop it." Luther says, getting more and more pissed.

Klaus pulls me closer and hands me his cigarette. I take it graciously and smoke it, before breathing out and taking a long drag.

Diego snarls "That's HOW much he couldn't stand the sight of you." He aggressively taps Luthers arms and finally Luther fights back, lunging at him before grabbing Diego and hurling him through the air.

I shriek and yell "Luther stop it you fucking asshole!" I nearly run after him, but Klaus holds me back. And hear him mumble in my ear "Don't get involved." I then watch him usher Five back as well.

"Klaus, we're all adults here." Five moves away from Klaus and sends me a nod of appreciation.

I was unbelievably pissed at Diego now. But Luther beating him to a pulp wasn't going to ever fly with me.

However, Diego manages to turn the tables around and kick Luther in the face. But Luther ends up slamming him into the elm tree. The same one that was supposedly Dad's favorite.

Pogo glances over and then yells "Boys! Stop this at once."

There are cries for the fight to stop from Vanya and a few more from Pogo. But Klaus eggs it on. I roll my eyes. "Really? Is that a good idea?"

Five mumbles "I don't have time for this" and walks away inside the academy once

Luther goes to punch Diego once more only, to miss and falls into Ben's statue. Knocking the head clean off.

Allison scoffs and then says "And there goes Ben's statue."

Klaus grins and then huffs a little before walking away. "Best funeral ever." I catch him mumble under his breath before putting his cigarette out on dad's ashes.

Diego isn't finished yet. I watch him pull out his knife and toss it. Of course the blade tore open a sleeve on Luther's coat. Revealing the truth below it. A patch of animal fur sits there, exposed out to the open.

"There's your legacy right there. Thanks dad."   
Luther doesn't say anything. I look at him, feeling sympathetic for a second before shrugging. He was accusing us of murdering our father earlier. He doesn't get my sympathy. Not now.

Suddenly a new voice buds in. Vanya.

"You never know when to stop do you?" She shoves Diego , that was the final straw. I'd had enough of her for today, for a whole lifetime maybe.

"Shut your damn mouth Vanya." I say angrily before continuing "You don't get to-"

She cuts me off "You too Althea. You know that? In all the time you were here, or even now, you don't even think to stop the fighting or anything. You think it's a game. You find it funny. Well it's not and not everything is about you either."

Diego starts in on her now "Oh no. You don't get to talk to her like that. We're the assholes? You're trespassing, why did you even come

"No, no. Let me guess. Writing a sequel? I hope you got enough material." You could have thought Diego spit out venom at Vanya from the way she walked away with tears spilling from her eyes..

Leaving Diego and I out in the rain. I sigh.

"Why'd you do that? The fight with Luther, all of that, I said wait. And I certainly meant till after the memorial." 

Diego's expression softens a little bit. "I was just trying to prove a point. C'mon Althea, you know better than to think-"

I cut him off "Really? Do I? Whatever Diego. It's fine. I don't want to be mad at you. In fact I shouldn't have brought it up. I appreciate you doing that though. Thank you. Somebody had to say something."

He chuckles a little before saying "Hey, that's what siblings are for." With that we look back at the mess of the backyard before heading back inside once more.


	6. where did you sleep last night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> nirvana's cover of where did you sleep last night

**_THE PRESENT_ **

Most of us were clumped up in the kitchen, unsure of what to do or say to one another since the events of the fight that had happened. It was too awkward. Well, at least Vanya had gone. She had no right to even come or attempt to stay. Diego was right. Although, a part of me felt bad as to how I'd let him tear right into her as if she wasn't human.

I walked into the kitchen shortly after Allison did and spotted Five looking around for something and Klaus curled up in a kitchen chair, clutching a guitar, one that I quickly recognized to be one of the ones I'd left here when I moved.

"Did you take that out of my room? Don't touch my shit."I say grumbling.

"Does it really matter to you? Especially if you left it." Five says not even bothering to turn his attention to me.

"How did you-"

"Easy. Vanya's book. It's a light read. Had a lot of time during the apocalypse." He flashes me a sarcastic grin, turning around to face me finally.

Allison sighs "She felt left out and finally spoke about it. I mean we did exclude her. Didn't we?"

No one bothers to answer the question. We all knew the answer to it.

"An entire square block. 42 bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, but not a bit of coffee in the damn place." Five rolls his eyes, slamming a cabinet shut, striding over to the kitchen table where we were all sitting.

"Dad hated caffeine. You know that," Allison says softly.

Klaus jumps in "Yeah, but he hated children and had plenty of us." He and I share a brief laugh before I say "You got that right."

Five hesitates for a minute and then says "I'm taking the car out for a bit."

Klaus sat up, instantly wondering if he could get out of the house. "Where are you going?"

He sneers "To get a decent cup of coffee."

Allison looks at him curiously. "Do you even know how to drive?"

He grins and then says "of course I do. I know how to do everything." With that he exits the room.

"Was he always that rude?" I ask, not sure if this what happens when you spend 50 some years in isolation or if he had only gotten worse. I peer off down the hall and see he's gone.

Diego enters the room, carrying his duffel bag. He sarcastically looks around before saying "So, lot's of fun guys. Let's totally do it again. Or next time." He looks around the room cautiously.

Klaus giddily claps and says "Yes, Let's!" Then Diego turns to leave, having nothing else to say, only to have Luther interrupt him.

"No one else is leaving."

I roll my eyes and say "Hey look! Right on time."

Allison tries to get Luther to shut up, but he cuts her off

"We have to figure this out." He says, STILL convinced that something did go wrong

"There is nothing to figure out! Dad died, the world goes on. The end." I say frustratedly.

"You all read the autopsy report." He says

"Yeah so?" I ask

"When they found the body, his monocle was missing."

"What's the point? Am I missing something?" I ask around the room.Diego shakes his head no and Allison looks down at the ground.

"Althea, have you ever seen dad without his monocle? Think about it?"

Allison looks up "No.."

Diego butts in "Your point is?"

"That whoever has that monocle is  
either the last person to see our father alive, or the first one to see him dead. I don't care what you thought of him, I really don't. What any of you thought. You wanna hate his guts, fine, who gives a shit. But we're not gonna pretend like this thing didn't happen. We owe Dad that much." Luther says before pounding his fist on the table.

Diego stares at Luther and then at me before saying "Get help Luther, seriously" He glances over to Allison and then says "Althea..I'll call you later to check in, okay?"

I nod my head as he continues on to Klaus, only he gets cut off "Are we leaving?" Klaus asks.

"I'm leaving. By myself." He says crossing his arms.

"Great! I'll get my things." He gets up off the table and heads off into the house to gather his belongings.

The two exit soon after. Leaving Allison, Luther and I alone in the kitchen. I look at them, confused by whatever the hell is going on between them and say "Okay. This is just weird. Goodnight."

I thought that would be the end. The next morning I'd fly back to Seattle, piddle around, fuck someone's life up and then come back when the next person died. But of course not. This was The Umbrella Academy.   
______________________________  
 ** _FLASHBACK_**

 ** _"_** Our world is changing, there are those who walk among us, gifted with extraordinary abilities. The Umbrella Academy is a place to foster those abilities." Reginald Hargreeves spoke proudly to the reporters at the edge of the banks steps.

_"What happened to their parents?"_

He laughs, "they were suitably compensated."

_"What are their names?"_

"One through Eight."

_"But I only count seven?"_

"Congratulations. You can count."

_"Why are you doing this? I mean what's the point?"_

He scoffs "The point?"

_"Why did you adopt all these kids?"_

"To save the world of course!"

______________________________  
 ** _PRESENT_**

It was the middle of the night and I still couldn't sleep. I mean, it was odd. Sleeping in my childhood bedroom. So either way, I was awake, staring out my window, thinking about what might've happened had I been normal and not "extraordinary".

That was when the phone rang. I jumped, quickly picking it up. Diego. I answered it within seconds, eagerly waiting to hear his voice. I needed to hear anyone but myself at this point.

"I took the monocle. You can't tell Luther."

"Why'd you take it?"

"I thought it would get him to drop it and move on. Clearly that didn't work." He scoffs and then adds "I disposed of it. Dropped it into the water. Down at the harbor."

I nod my head, although he can't see it. "Affective. Just hope Luther doesn't start accusing people of taking it." I say playfully.

"Fuck you Althea." He chuckles a little before getting serious. "Take care of yourself. Okay? I gotta go. I promised Klaus waffles."

I grin "Oh boy, have fun with that. Talk soon buddy." With that I hang up, slinking back into my bed, turning the light off. Completely unaware that the world is about to end.


	7. zero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the smashing pumpkin's zero

**_FLASHBACK_ **

" _During extreme weather conditions, a climber must possess the wisdom to determine when evacuation is inevitable. A controlled alpine descent begins with the girding of ones loins and the anchoring of the climbing rope to one's enemy, the mountain."_

_"The Dülfersitz rappel is the preferred method for descent when rope is the only available tool but must be regarded as a last resort. Begin by loosening the rope"_

All waiting by the side of the room, the eight children of the academy stood, waiting to told they could sit down and start to eat. Finally, Reginald Hargreeves spoke one word and one word only

 _"_ Sit"

And so they all did. The same record they heard every morning was playing and today was no different. Or would it?

_"A screen anchor must be used. If the rope is to be successfully retrieved from the face of the mountain. Tightly knot the ends of the rope. Once anchored, thread the doubled rope, through the legs, front to back and around the buttocks."_

_"It is of utmost importance that the rope be drawn from the gluteal muscles. Not through the crevice between the gluteus . Proceed by holding the rope diagonally-"_

That was when the first act of defiance came in. Five stabbing his knife into the table. Reginald looked up at him, somewhat amused with the boy for acting out.

"Number Five?" He asks

"I have a question." Five says snarkily, slowly looking up at his father and frowning. All of the other children knew what was going to happen. But were afraid to watch.

"Knowledge is an admirable goal, but you know the rules. No talking during mealtimes. You are interrupting Herr Carlson."

There was another clatter from Five's direction. A slightly louder one, a bigger spark of defiance. Vanya looked towards her brother and shook her head no. He ignored it.

"I want to time travel."

Reginald Hargreeves grows stiff and looses any sort of amusement from his face. "No." Is all he says.

"But I'm ready. I've been practicing my spacial jumps just like you said." 

Five teleports across the room and back, impressed with himself he crosses his arms and smugly says "see?"

For a minute the other children thought that perhaps Five would win this battle and the rest of them could soon enough skip to the "fun" in their abilities too.

"A spacial jump is trivial when compared with the unknowns of time travel. One is like sliding along the ice, the other is akin to descending blindly into the depths of freezing water and reappearing as an acorn."

Althea laughs a little at Five getting bested by their father. Something that perhaps should've already been expected.

Five glares at her before saying "Well I don't get it."

"Hence the reason you aren't ready."

Five stands up "I'm not afraid."

"Fear isn't the issue. The effects it might have on your body, even your mind are far too unpredictable. Now I forbid you to talk about this anymore."

Five gets up and storms out, leaving the yells of Reginald Hargreeves behind as he skipped year and year into the future, until there was nothing left and the rest of his family was dead, with nothing but an prosthetic eye as a lead.   
________________________________  
 ** _PRESENT_**

Morning. The birds chirping. I almost forget I was here. But I figured it out when I saw the posters on the wall and the framed photos of the academy's awards, recognitions and whatever else I'd been proud of when I was a teenager.

I quickly got dressed, throwing on a strappy green dress, a torn up denim jacket and black Doc Martens, proceeding to brush my hair out. Before making my way out of the bedroom and down the stairs to where I found Klaus and Pogo locked in a conversation about a box that contained dad's belongings. That Klaus had probably stolen or sold.

"The contents of that box are...priceless, were they to find their way back to the office, whoever took it would be absolved of any blame or consequence."

Klaus looked at me and then said "Did you hear that Al? What a lucky bastard?"

I rolled my eyes. "Indeed Klaus, indeed."

As he ran off to wherever he'd stashed the box belongings I turned to Pogo. "I'm sorry I didn't formally greet you yesterday Pogo. There was a lot of..."

"Drama?" He chuckled and then said "It's quite alright Miss Althea. I'm just glad you decided to stay unlike some."

I nod my head and then say "Thanks Pogo. It's good to see you too. Here, I'll go find Klaus. He probably needs help finding whatever the hell he took off with."

"Good luck." He calls out as I run in the direction of Klaus.

I end up in an alleyway beside the house, where a dumpster sat and surprise surprise, inside of said dumpster was Klaus. Yelling at someone.

"Who are you talking to? A ghost?" I ask peeking into the dumpster and then waving at the thin air.

Klaus looked over to a spot and stood there for a couple seconds before saying "oh- uh, it's a homeless person! You know how they are, very cranky. This ones angry about how I'm in his dumpster. How cliche right?"

I furrow my eyebrows and ask "Are you lying to me?" I wait for an answer and when I don't get one I sigh exasperatedly "You know what? I don't care. Let's just find Dad's shit that you threw away."

After searching through trash for about an hour I look at him confused. "Are you sure you dumped it here?"

He nods his head "I ran right here and dumped it out and pawned the box. The stupid journal should be in there!"

I groan and then say "Pogo is going to kill you, I hope you know that." I glance up at the sky frustratedly as Klaus whines.

"Why would Pogo kill Klaus?" Five asks, coming out of nowhere, upon further inspection, he sees Klaus in the dumpster and me standing beside him.

He rolls his eyes before saying "you know what? I don't want to know what you morons are up to. But I need a favor. Meet me in my room. Get dressed in something adult like and presentable. Got it? And Klaus, I'll pay you twenty bucks."

With that Klaus scurries off and I follow after. Soon enough we're in Five's room. I'm wearing a black dress and white heels and Klaus is wearing a blouse?

"He's going to get mad at you," I say, looking his outfit over.

"What do you mean? This is my most professional outfit." He whines and then pouts a little.

I hear voices in the hallway. "Shit, it's Five and Vanya's with him, get in the closet." I shove us in it and shut the door. Just in time to eavesdrop.

"Five? Oh thank god. I was worried sick about you!" She exclaims

"Sorry I left without saying goodbye." He says half heartedly

"No look- I'm the one that should be sorry. I was dismissive and I-I guess I didn't know how to process what you were saying. And I still can't to be honest."

"Maybe you were right to be dismissive. Maybe it wasn't real after all. It felt real. Like you said, the old man did say time travel could contaminate the mind."

"Then maybe I'm not the right person you should be talking to. Look I used to see someone, a-a therapist, I could give you her information."

"Thanks but, I think I'm gonna get some rest. It's been a long time since I've had a good sleep."

"Okay." And with that Vanya exits, satisfied to have seemingly helped Five in some sort of way.

"Ow!" Althea yells as Klaus kicks her accidentally in the closet, causing something to fall over.

Five rips open the closet door and Klaus starts gushing on him "that's so...touching! All that stuff about family and dad and ..wow!"

Five grimaces and then says "Would you shut up? She'll hear you."

Klaus seemingly ignores him and turns to me and says "I'm moist."

Five rolls his eyes "I told you to put on something professional. Look she managed to do it."

"What? This is my nicest outfit." Klaus says somewhat upset.

Five sighs "We'll raid the old mans closet."

"As long as I get paid when the job is done. That's all I care about." Klaus remarks

"Just so we're clear on the finer details. We just have to go in there and pretend to be your parents right?" I ask, a bit unclear as to what any of this is about.

"Something like that." Five says nodding.

Klaus then smirks "What's our cover story?" He elbows me and laughs a little

"What are you talking about?" Five and I say at the same time

"I mean were we like really really young when we had you? Like 16? Young and misguided?"

"Sure." Five says shrugging, letting Klaus have the reins in fantasy land

"Your mother that slut!" He calls out

"I'm right here." I say teasingly

"We met at the disco. Remember this." With that Klaus grabs my hand and twirls me in a circle and and then says "don't forget it Al."

"Oh my god the sex was amaaaazing." I say joining in on the fun.

Five looks up at the two of us, weirded out and says "What a disturbing glimpse into what you two call a brain. No offense Althea."

"None taken." I grin as the three of us head off to whatever Five needed help with.


	8. freaking out the neighborhood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mac demarco's freaking out the neighborhood

"Like I said to your son earlier, any information about our prosthetics we build is strictly confidential. Without the clients consent, I simply can't help you." The doctor blubbered back to Klaus and I. He seemed almost sympathetic.

"Well, we can't get consent if you don't give us a name." Five sneered in the doctors face, holding the eye.

"Well that's not my problem" He shrugged his shoulders, giving us a semi fake smile. I frowned agitated.

He motions to the door "Sorry, now there's nothing much else I can do so-"

Klaus leaned forward and got all pouty "Well what about MY consent?"

Five and I looked at each other extremely confused with where the hell this was going and why.

The doctor looked mortified "Excuse me?"

"Who gave you....permission to lay your hands on my son....and my wife?" He snarls. Five tilts his head and and looks even more lost.

The doctor backs up and raises his hands up "I didn't touch your son or your wife!"

Klaus leaned back smirking then stood up "oh really? Then how did he get that swollen lip then? Or her bruised cheek?"

"They don't have-" the doctor is cut off by Klaus hitting Five and then doing the same to me.

Five grins and then leans forward as Klaus goes "I want it. Name please."

The doctor looks terrified for his life "You're crazy. All of you."

Klaus chuckles and places his hands on the doctors desk "You have no idea." He scans the desk before setting his eyes on a snow globe sitting there.

"Peace on earth. That's so sweet!" Within seconds the snow globe is smashed against Klaus's head and there's blood and glitter everywhere. He grunts a little and gasps before yelling "god! That hurt."

The doctor reaches for his phone, obvious he'd seen enough. "I'm calling sec- What are you doing?"

I leaned forward and snatched the phone from him "There's been an assault!" I sound like I'm crying before passing the phone to Klaus. Tears rolling down my face, I could easily fake a few.

"In Mr. Bigs office and we need security NOW Schnell!" He cries out before slamming to phone on the receiver.

He leans in and says "Now, here's what's gonna happen Grant."

"I think it's Lance" I chime in, looking down at the man's name tag

"Whatever. In about 60 seconds two security guards are gonna burst in here and see a whole lotta blood and they're gonna wonder what the hell happened. "

I cut in "and we're gonna tell them that you beat the shit out of us." I start fake crying again only to stop shortly after, changing my expression to a smile.

Klaus continues "you're gonna do great in prison Grant, trust me, I've been there. Little piece of chicken like you!"

He tsks before continuing "oh my god you're gonna get passed around like a- you're gonna do great! That's all I'm saying!"

The doctor looks around the room. Five looks impressed with Klaus for once. "Jeez you're a real sick bastard."

"Thanks." Klaus smiles

The doctor looks up the eye and looks even more confused. "Oh that's strange."

"What?" Five says eagerly

"Uh the eye? It hasn't even been purchased by a client yet."

Five frowns "what do you mean?"

"Well uh, our logs say that the eye with that serial number, this can't be right. It hasn't even been manufactured yet. Where did you get that eye?" He asks curiously

So we left the traumatized doctor and went to go sit on the steps outside the building, not sure what was up with that eye though.

"Well this is not good." Five says annoyed

"I was pretty good, right guys? Yeah, what about my consent bitch?"

I laugh "that was pretty fucking good Klaus" I smile lightly then look at Five. "What's so important about the eye?"

He sighs "there is someone out there who is going to loose an eye in the next seven days. They're going to bring about the end of the world as we know it."

My eyes widen. "You're not serious are you?"

Klaus doesn't seem to care "yeah, can I get my twenty bucks, like now or what?"

"Klaus!" I yell, trying to listen to Five.

"Your twenty bucks?" He sounds exasperated

"Yeah my twenty" he replies

"The apocalypse is coming and all you care about is twenty bucks and getting high?" I say to Klaus

"Well I'm also quite hungry"

"I gave you a bunch of money yesterday! What happened to it?" I ask

"I spent it on yesterday's stash and haul. Duh." He shrugs his shoulders and I look at Five annoyed.

Five scowls "You're useless. Althea not so much."

Klaus grumbles "You need to lighten up old man." A lightbulb seems to go off in his head. "Hey, you know I just realized why you're so uptight! You must be horny as hell. All these years by yourself."

"Klaus you could break him." I mutter quietly. Not wanting Five to break down while he hasn't even explained the apocalypse in full yet.

"I wasn't alone." He says softly.

"Who was it?" I ask gently

"Her name was Dolores and we were together for over thirty years." He smiles thinking about the mannequin in question.

I make a whistle noise and Five chuckles.

"God the longest I've been with someone is, I don't know three weeks. But that's only because I was looking for a place to sleep."

Five grabbed my hand and off we teleported, into a taxi nearby. I waved to Klaus and he yelled something about his twenty bucks. "I'll pay him later." I say

Five shrugs and then says "Do you know why you're here Althea?"

"Why?" I ask, to be fairly honest I was a bit confused.

"Because you aren't stupid, useless and I actually trust you. For now at least and I need someone to help me."

"Thanks Five. Now where to?"

________________________________

Dolores was a mannequin. Not a woman. A mannequin. A doll in a department store. Not even a good one. The dude had been alone for fifty years. He had an excuse for it. But was he okay? At all?

I stood beside the display, watching as he chatted up his mannequin, er woman. "Why am I here again?" I ask, wondering why I had to watch this.

"Because, you're backup in case something goes wrong." He says cockily as if it were obvious.

"We're in a department store while you flirt with a mannequin. What the hell could happen?"

Seconds later the lights went off and then gunshots started. "Oh shit. It's them." He yelled

"Them? Who is them?" I yell confused, running after Five and the mannequin.

"I'll explain later. Just run!" He yells shoving me in a different clothing aisle, splitting us up.

I nod and dash off eventually ending up a couple aisles away from the people we were running from. "They said he was special."

"Yeah but there were two of them, who the hell is the chick?" The male one asked.

"Does it matter?" The female one asked the male one

I listened to their plan and decided I'd go after the bigger problem of the two. The girl and Five and "Delores" could deal with the dude.

Eventually ending up in front of the woman in a mask, I snap my fingers and watch her fall over, unconscious. I don't wink, instead I hold up three fingers. So she'd be okay in three hours.

I could hear sirens in the distance and the store looked empty and torn up, gun shots littered the walls now. I couldn't find Five, so I'd assumed he'd gone home. So that's where I went too.

I was tired and found Allison and Luther discussing dad and decided to sit in and listen when Five came in, clutching Dolores for his dear life.

"Five what the hell was that? Who were those people?" I ask, confused.

"What people?" Luther asks looking around

Allison then says "What can we do to help? There has to be something."

Five looks defeated. "Nothing. There's nothing you can do. We're all doomed." He hangs his head in shame.


	9. lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> panic ! at the disco's lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off

**_FLASHBACK_ **

When Vanya Hargreeves published her first (and only) book, her family were in very different places compared to each other.

Luther was still loyal to Reginald Hargreeves despite his actions towards him and the rest of his siblings. He even tried keeping the academy together.

Diego had run off and was doing his own thing, trying to prove not only to his father, but to the world that the Umbrella Academy hadn't been for nothing and that his talents, his abilities and that he himself still had a purpose. To a hero?

Allison was busy making a name for herself, becoming a famous actress. One of the most well known people in the world and she had no intentions of ever turning back.

Klaus? Was further derailing himself and slipping off the edge and taking in far too many drugs than he could handle. Trying to keep himself from seeing the dead and continuing to rebel against his fathers plan for him.

Five was gone. Stuck in the future. But no one knew when or where.

Ben was dead. Mission gone wrong.

Vanya was ordinary, dealing with the neglect from her siblings and father, dealing with how she wasn't seen as special, while all her siblings were. So she published a book about them and her life.

Althea had a few mental breakdowns, an ego trip and tried to grow up. She only cared about herself and was debating ditching her siblings all together. She knew she'd get anything she wanted with ease. So what had kept her home for so long? The love from those who had remained.

Until Vanya had published her book.   
_______________________________  
 ** _PRESENT_**

Allison was the one who told me to meet her in the control room, said it was an emergency and that it involved Dad's death. Now, no one else was around so I decided to humor whatever theory was going around now. But not before stopping in the kitchen.

Standing there with a plate and and egg and bacon sandwich was Mom, Grace. Whatever. I gently took the plate and smiled "Thanks mom. Sorry I hadn't stopped by."

She grins before saying "It's alright Althea. I know you are busy. Very busy." With that she walks off, the same way she'd done my entire life.

I shrug before heading to the control room, plate in hand. I knock on the door and Allison opens it and nods "Okay. You have to see the tape."

I take a bite of my sandwich and look confused, finishing off the food in my mouth and swallowing before asking "What tape?"

"Dad started using the security system again. He was getting paranoid and here, just watch." Luther says as he rolls back the tape.

I continue eating, much to his displeasure as he says "Pay attention and, just don't get any crumbs in here."

I roll my eyes, leaning in as I see Mom hand him a cup of tea and he drinks it slowly. Minutes later he was dead.

I stare at the screen for a couple of seconds and then down at the plate and set it down on a chair. "Oh hell. Did she poison him? Is that what you guys think?"

"We don't know-" Luther says, not really liking the idea of it either.

"Is she even capable of doing that?" Allison asks

I shrug, looking down at my plate again. "I hope I wasn't supposed to be next." The two glance down at the plate sitting in the chair.   
_______________________________

Soon enough we're all in the kitchen. Watching Mom whip up more food. I'd already abandoned mine in the control room.

Luther starts off the "interrogation", asking what she could remember about the night. But just like we'd thought. There was nothing useful about the sky or the time sunset happened, or what they'd had for dinner.  
And I hated to say it, but maybe I was agreeing with Luther.

"I don't like this anymore than you do, but she's hiding something." Luther says,

"Hiding ? To me she just sounded confused. Al, she sounded confused right?"

"Sorry Allison. But Luther has a point. She was the last one to see him and she had the tea." I grimace, thinking that she could've even done that.

"Thank you!" Luther exclaims before adding "Look, we all saw the tape. Grace knew what she was doing?"

Allison steps back, "Grace? This morning she was Mom."

He rolls his eyes "She's a machine Allison."

"She practically raised us Luther. When our pathetic excuse for a father couldn't give us names, mom did! When we couldn't get an ounce of comfort from dad, mom gave it."

Luther crosses his arms and in a hushed tone says "Yeah, she did. But we left her here alone, without anyone but Dad and Pogo. For years. No wonder somethings messed up. To go so long without your kids?"

His eyes soften before looking at Allison. "Hey...what happened with Claire? With Patrick? You never told me."

Shit. This wasn't a conversation I wanted to hear. I'd seen it in tabloids and on TV too many times. Allison's family life falling apart. That wasn't something I really wanted to hear about. Not right now at least.

I send her a look of sympathy and then say "You'll figure it all out." Before walking off, preferably to find a conversation less dull and not as depressing. Which would be hard, considering this was the umbrella academy. I also didn't like hearing about other people's issues.

Or maybe it was the fact I'd had enough of Luther for a day. Soon enough he'd start ranting about he had a purpose and how much Dad loves us and how were his legacy. Give me a break. It had barely been a couple days and I was avoiding him.

________________________________


	10. black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pearl jam's black

"I mean. You really think Mom would hurt Dad?" Vanya asked sullenly.

The family meeting to discuss whether Mom had killed Dad was happening and it wasn't a pretty one. From what I could tell anyways.

"You haven't been home in a long time Vanya. Maybe you don't know Grace anymore."

"Can we stop saying Grace? We've all called her Mom until that tape showed up and we don't even know what happened." I say exasperatedly.

"If he was poisoned, it would've shown up in the coroners report."

"Well I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes." Luther adds, frowning.

I glance over at Diego, examining his expression, as I know he had a better relationship with Mom them the rest of us.

"Maybe all that low density messed with your eyes." Diego retorts, not wanting to play games with Luther.

Luther rewinds the tape "Look closer. Dad has his monocle, Mom stands up, monocles gone!"

I step in, knowing what happened to the monocle. "She wasn't poisoning him, she was...taking it."

Diego jumps in "To clean it!" He turns to me and mouths a thank you for not blowing his cover on the monocle thing.

"Come on Althea, you agreed with me this morning, now all of a sudden you agree with him? Besides, I searched the house. Including her things. She doesn't have it."

"You better not have gone through my stuff." I say, getting a little irritated with how Luther doesn't even see how that could be an invasion of privacy.

"Luther. That's because I took it from her. After the funeral. I even called Althea and told her. You can ask."

"It's true. He did call me." I say, shrugging my shoulders.

"You've had the monocle this whole time? What the hell Diego?" Luther seethes before turning to me "and you knew about it? Give it to me."

"I threw it away." Diego grins

"You what?" Luther says, growing more pissed "Althea did you know he got rid of it?"

I nod my head. "Do you not see that as suspicious at all?"

Diego scoffs "Look I knew that if you found it on Mom, you'd lose your shit, just like you're doing now!"

Luther yells "Diego..You son of a bitch."

"Hey! Calm down" I hiss at him, just as Vanya says something along the same lines.

"Look I do know dad wasn't exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said, Mom was well, designed to be a caretaker. But...also as a protector."

"What does that mean?" Vanya asks

"She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy. Well if her hardware is degrading then...we need to turn her off."

Everyone grows silent, not liking the idea of having to get rid of Mom. The only nice thing that was seemingly left of the academy.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in the closet. She feels things. I've seen it!"

I look at Diego sympathetically, knowing that's the kind of reaction he's looking for right now. Mom had helped him mature and grow, so he was just defending her. Of course he would be biased.

"She stood there Diego and just watched our father die."

Allison then looks up, breaking away from her own thoughts. "I'm with Luther."

Well. That was expected. I'd been waiting for that to happen.

"Really Allison? Are you sure you want to pack her up before you could learn a thing or two from her." I say, not realizing how insensitive it was.

"She's got a point Allison." Diego says.

"You need to stop talking. Now." Luther says, pointing to both of us.

Vanya then starts to speak up "I-I don't-"

"Yeah she shouldn't get a vote" Diego says looking over at Vanya. I have a slight grin on my face.

"I was gonna say that I agree with you!" She says frustrated with how quickly Diego had dismissed her.

"Okay. She should get a vote." I was slowly warming up to Vanya today. She had seemed to have matured. Maybe even regretted her book.

Diego looked at me for support and I sighed, knowing he'd probably be angry with me for this but, I couldn't agree with him. "I'm with Luther. If she's degrading, or loosing her touch, we are putting everyone and everything at risk. Which isn't something we should be doing. I mean we just had a funeral."

He stares at me for a few seconds, I couldn't recognize the look in his eyes. But it didn't make me feel good. I look down a lot the ground before walking across the room to join Allison and Luther.

"What about you stoner boy? What do you got?" Diego asks. Everyone turns to Klaus. He would be the one to decide whether we tied or not. Luther looks at him desperately, since we needed him on our side.

"Oh so what, you need my help now? Oh. Get out of the van Klaus! Well welcome back to the VAN!"

I give him an odd look as I hear Allison say "What van?"

"What's it gonna be Klaus?"

"I'm with Diego, because screw you! And if Ben were here, he'd agree with me."

_"No I don't."_

Just like that Klaus hisses at the air around him, which startles everyone. I look to Diego confused and he looks to Luther, who shrugs. No one knows what goes down in Klaus's brain. Ever.

"So wait, that's three." Diego says

"Wait-"

"To three." I smirk a little and then say "I guess it's a tie and we can't do anything about it, or come to a conclusion."

Only to have that ruined. "Wait, Five's not here. We have to wait for the whole family. We owe each other that."

They were right. I sighed and looked down at the floor. We would have to wait for Five to come back. Just then, everyone's attention turns to face Mom.

"How long have you been here?" Someone asks as we all realize that Mom is in the room. Hopefully, not long enough to hear any of the words that had come out of our mouths.

"You all seem upset! I'll make cookies." And with that she walked off. I looked towards Diego, with a concerned look.

"Do you ever wonder, all those moments with mom, the things she said. like was it her, or was it really dad?" Luther asked

I look even more confused. "You're not making sense to me. Explain."

"Well he built her and programmed her to be a mom. Our mom. Sometimes when I look at her. I just see him."

Diego speaks up, looking troubled with what Diego had just said "Maybe that was true at first. But she evolved."

I tilt my head to the side as Luther asks how. I was intrigued as well. How could he know that? It's not like he'd looked at the programming himself or anything.

"Because Dad only loved himself." And with that he stormed off, and I decided to follow him.

"Diego wait up!" I call out, my heels clicking on the tile floor of the Academy, hurrying to catch up with him.

"Fuck off Althea." He yells, not even turning around to say it.

"I'm sorry. But it would be a risk to everyone here. Including you, that's why I couldn't agree with you." I call back.

He stops and slowly turns around. He holds up one finger as he thinks of what he is going to say, assuring himself he knows the words.

"It's Mom Althea. You know she can feel stuff. That she loves us. Who comforted you and made you feel better after Dad would scorn you for crying after training? Who did any of that? Mom did. She cares about us"

He looks at me for a couple more seconds, searching my face for any signs of remorse. "You know what? I wouldn't expect you to understand. You can't feel much anyways."

He scowls and then stomps off, leaving me alone in the hall.

"That's not fair and you know that." I yell back at him. But he was already too far away to hear it.  
________________________________  
 ** _FLASHBACK_**

_The sirens were blaring in the academy. It was time for yet another mission. Another day out saving crime for the Umbrella Academy._

Alison calls out "Come on Luther!" As she pushes through the halls

Reginald Hargreeves starts yelling "How will the Umbrella Academy ever become an effective crime deterrent if we can't even leave the house on time for missions?"

Luther finally appears behind Allison and they laugh a little. Reginald rolls his eyes and yells, er barks "Come along children! Come along!"

Althea exits her room quickly and looks up at Reginald Hargreeves and in a playful voice asks "Can we get ice cream after the mission?"

She pouts a little before adding "At least for me, I was the quickest one out."

He ponders it and then says "Hmph. Perhaps if all goes well on the mission."

"Wait! I can't find my domino mask !" Allison cries out, freaking out.

"It needed a bit of TLC after the last mission." Grace says, handing her the mask and watching her run off to join the others. "Thanks mom!" Allison calls out

As Grace passes each of the doors, she makes sure to help the children along. Stopping at Vanya's door to briefly hear her play the violin. "Sounds beautiful Vanya!"

"Thanks mom!" She says before returning to her playing.

She passes Klaus's room and stops to put out the fire he's managed to started. Waving him out of the room, she remarks "Boys will be boys."

She fixes Ben's zipper and helps him get ready before he hurried off. It had become clear that Grace provided normalcy and stability for the children when often times they found themselves longing for it. It was a good thing. The best thing they had, and most of the children didn't even realize it.   
______________________________  
 ** _PRESENT_**

Staring up at the ceiling of my bedroom hadn't seemed to be helping. At all. Would I be upset if Mom was to be turned off? Would Diego? For a little. But he could get over that and see the bigger picture, right? He would see that it would be for our safety.

I groaned. Thinking for other people was harder than it looked. I didn't understand why it would always be so hard for me. I flipped over and yelled into my pillow, kicking my legs back down onto the bed. Great. I was slowly turning back into a teenager. It at least felt like it, with how I was acting.

Then I heard footsteps from down the hall, I opened the door and spotted Diego. Except he wasn't alone. The two crazies that had attacked Five and I were right there.


	11. violet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hole's violet

I heard the gunshots from downstairs and bolted out of bed, heading down to where it was coming from almost immediately. And confused, it couldn't be anyone in the academy, unless Klaus had completely lost it. Which I doubted had happened.

I pop out of the corner and run into Diego, who pushes me back down the hall he'd just run down as he goes and throws two of his knives, which immediately bounce right off of their helmets.That's when I recognized who they were. These were the crazies from the department store with Five.

We were currently hiding behind the stairwell as they crept closer, the man inching closer towards where we were. "Stay here." Diego mumbles as he goes out to fight the guy.

I of course ignored him. The woman was too focused on the situation with Diego and the man, so I crept further up the stairs before jumping over the railing and jumping on top of her.

Almost immediately knocking her over, I kick the gun out of her hands and it slides across the floor, I roll over in pain before standing up. We make eye contact before both running in the direction of the gun.

"Where the hell are the others?" I yell at Diego as he keeps fighting the man. The woman and I are both tasseling for her gun now. She attempts to punch me, but I easily dodge, moving to the side, before ramming her end of the gun into her gut.

She groans a little and then seems to remember me "You're a little bitch, you know that?" With that she yanks her gun from my hands and I don't even think twice before dashing off in the other direction as she starts shooting again.

I was now still in the upper level of the house, watching the chaos ensue from around me. Unsure of what to do, I look around frantically before grabbing a vase from a table and throwing it down on the ground behind them, and duck down, they turn around confused, giving Diego time to run off.

"What the fuck was that?" The man asks gesturing to the mess of broken glass

"The girl you idiot." The woman scowls before looking to see Diego gone. "Great now they're both gone."

Finally Luther arrives and tosses the woman down on the floor, while this is going on, I make my way downstairs, this time using the stairwell.

I watch as Allison runs out to attack the man, only he retaliates and grabs her, lifting her up in the air and starts to choke her.

Diego and I look at one another before bolting towards him. "ALLISON!" I yell, before kicking the man in the back, right after I hear a groan. The two of us keep beating him up, to no avail.   
Only when Luther comes over and slams his arms down, does the man fall over and drop Allison. 

I look at her and bite my lip, it was already bruising. "Jesus are you okay?" I ask, knowing that's something Luther would say. She simply nods and then says "Who the hell are these guys?"

I hesitate before saying "Someone Five knows. Or made mad. They attacked us at this department store yesterday. It was crazy." I exclaim.

"You're welcome by the way." Luther says gesturing over to Allison

"We had it covered." Diego sneers

"Oh really? Because it sure looked like it." He remarks

I look behind Luther and see the two people standing up again. "Uh-guys. GUYS, we have bigger issues." I motion to the two people standing in the foyer.

The start shooting and we all duck down, I quickly scurry over towards Diego, hiding behind one of the tables.

Then Vanya comes down the stairs. "Shit. Diego, she's going to get herself killed. I don't want to go to another funeral." I whine.

He rolls his eyes "we've kinda got our hands full right now." Within a few moments, I can only assume someone has knocked Vanya out. Or down, as I hear her crash into the table.

I hear someone start fighting someone and take this as an opportunity to dash off, running up the stairs and heading back to the bedrooms, I hear people scurrying down the stairs.

Knowing that Luther and the man are in the living room, I know it's Allison and the woman. I quickly run into the nearest open room and see Klaus standing there, headphones in, completely oblivious to the whole situation. I gape at him.

I wave a hand in front of his face and he merely smiles and waves back. "Al, can we do...whatever this is later? You look tired and I'm doing stuff." He practically yells through his headphones.

I scoff, ripping one out of his ear. "You idiot! Do you not hear the gunshots? Or the two people attacking everyone?" I slam the door shut and look at him like he's crazy.

"No! I didn't hear anything? Are you sure you aren't seeing anything? Because you know you're..." he makes a little whistle

"Shut it Klaus, Everyone, including Vanya, are getting our asses beat by two freaks in masks while you're up here getting HIGH." I yell frustratedly.

_"Told you something was going on..." Ben says to Klaus_

Klaus turns to what appears to be a patch of air and says "I'm SORRY for having a good time for once in my life."

I roll my eyes, "we don't have time for this, come ON, we need to go." I tug on his hand, trying to signal him to move, but he stays put.

I look at him like he's crazy one more time before leaving and slamming the door shut, heading off to find the others, managing to avoid the two attackers. By the time I'd safely maneuvered my way out to the living room, or main living room, I found Diego seated and Vanya being chased after by Allison.

I had a couple cuts and scratches, maybe a few bruises but that was about it. Nothing major. I would go on. "Where the fuck is Five? He needs to explain some shit." I say looking around the room before sitting down on the sofa.

"You're bleeding. You should go see-" he stops himself and then says "You should go to Pogo or get some supplies. Go clean it up." I look at him oddly. "I'll be fine. How are you holding up?"

"A little confused, tired, upset and uh, pissed off." He says, I laugh a little and stretch out. "God I need a drink after that. I haven't done anything like that in years."

He nods his head a little and I walk over to the bar and pour two drinks. "Hey did you see Klaus, or where he went? He disappeared after I saw him last."

I walk over to Diego and hand him a drink. "Nah, you know how he wanders. Probably went off to score drugs."

I tilt my head a little bit, unsure that's what had happened. "I'll be right back." I mutter, heading out the door, finishing off my drink and leaving the glass on a nearby table.

Then I see it, psycho # 2, the male, with my brother Klaus, lugging him into the trunk of a car, I don't think twice, running after him. "HEY! THATS MY BROTHER YOU TWIT."

I don't remember much of what happened next, only that something hit me over the head, I drank something and was thrown into the trunk, on top of Klaus. Which was uncomfortable and then everything was pitch black.


	12. intergalactic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the beastie boy's intergalactic

When I woke up, I was tied to a chair, watching Klaus get brutally beat up by the two people who had attacked the academy last night. He was already bloody and bruised.

I could barely make out what they were saying, still feeling loopy from whatever the fuck was in my system. Blinking a couple times and then wincing as my ears rang, finally my eyesight cleared up and I could understand what they were saying.

"NUMBER FIVE, WHERE IS HE?" The woman was choking Klaus. I wrinkled my nose, hoping this wasn't going to happen to me as well. That wouldn't look very pretty.

"He doesn't know where he is. NOBODY knows where he is, he goes as he pleases and won't tell us SHIT." I yell, hoping the woman would take a hint.

She looks over, calling the man over and says "Looks like this one finally woke up. Damn, that took forever."

The man nods and then says "She says they don't know where Number Five is. Maybe they're telling the truth Cha Cha."

She looks at him like he's an idiot. Which I'm guessing, he was. "You moron! Why would you tell them what my name is and of course they know where he is. They're all living in the same house." She stamps her foot.

I watch as Klaus gags a little and keeps coughing, trying to keep himself breathing steadily. The two sit down on their beds. Probably tired of their jobs. Or my brother. Or both.

"Oh my fucking god, just let us go, do you want money? I can give you that. Klaus can vouch for me."

He chuckles "That's true. She'll make it appear out of thin air." The two exchange a couple looks and then the man says "What kind of con are you two running?"

"It's not a con dipshit. Don't you realize who you're messing with?" I yell. I would never admit it, but I have an ego and a bit of a power complex.

Klaus keeps laughing and then the man stands up and says "What's so funny you asshole?" And slaps him across the face.

"HEY! That's my brother you IMBECILE." I yell, hoping that someone outside would hear what was happening.

'Cha Cha' looks at the man and gestures towards me and says "You're going to let the girl talk to you like that? That's weak."

He looks down at the floor before mumbling "I don't want to hit a girl. She looks harmless enough. Except for her mouth." He glares over at me.

She stands up and walks over to me and slaps me herself before walking over to the man and doing the same to him. "Pull yourself together Hazel. She and her family of wackos beat us up. All of them did."

I chuckled as she slapped him, this shit was hilarious. How they managed to do anything together was beyond me. So I decided to ask "How do the two of you get anything done?"

"We don't." They simultaneously say.

"Wonderful!" Klaus says, still putting on a merry little attitude for the two of them. He had to be high or something. There was no way anyone could actually enjoy this.

Then Klaus continues "I mean you managed to kidnap the one person the entire house would fail to notice is gone. You kidnapped the wrong guy!" He starts laughing again before 'Hazel' hits him over the head.

"What about her?" Cha Cha asks, now standing in front of Klaus's chair, looking over me. Klaus shrugs and then says "Well. See there? You've got a wildcard. Someone might think she went home, but most of them? No they'll miss her, or wonder where she went."

Cha Cha grins a little, happy that one good thing came out of it all. But then Klaus continues "She could kill you right now you know. In the blink, or wink of an eye." He starts laughing again.

Making Hazel groan "Shut him up again."

Cha Cha looks confused and turns to Klaus "What does that mean?"

He shrugs, "why don't you ask her?" He says before snickering a little bit. This time I join in with him, laughing my ass off.

Neither of them were amused by this. At all. So they proceeded to try and waterboard Klaus. It didn't work. At all.

The two stomp off into the bathroom and I manage to catch most of their conversation.

"My god, what is wrong with that guy?" Hazel says tiredly, glancing out of the door, slightly freaked out.

"He's a freak. So is the girl. Just like their brother." Cha Cha says, agreeing with her partner.

"Everyone in that house. Just another example of management sticking it to the working man." Hazel says, running his hands under the facet as he washes his hands.

"Come on, not this again," Cha Cha says, as if she's tired of hearing the subject being brought up again.

Hazel frowns "They should've warned us this was an atypical assignment. Hello? Hazard Pay."

"Come on, we do the job and we move to the next one. Just like we always do. Remember Trinidad?" Cha Cha says, trying to boost their spirits.

Listening in, it was starting to sound like the two were working for someone, or some sort of organization and that this was clearly a hassle for the two of them to do, compared to all their other jobs.

I looked at Klaus and said "I'll come back for you. I just need time. And well, more help. I'll be back soon enough." I looked I him and gave a small smile.

He looked around frantically and saw a mirror on the wall behind him. "Really? You're going to ditch me with the crazies?" He hisses.

"Your greatest desire isn't getting out right now Klaus. Mine is." I shrug and then look in the mirror and wink, disappearing within a matter of seconds. Leaving my chair in place.

"You're a real assHOLE SOMETIMES ALTHEA." He yells just as the two exit the bathroom, with more confidence than before.

They stare at the empty chair, duct tape left untouched and everything. "What the hell?" Hazel says, looking from the chair to Klaus.

"She left m-me here. Just like always." Klaus says bitterly.

"How is that even possible? HOW?" Cha Cha says looking around. "Shit she couldn't have gone far."

"She has." Klaus says confidently.

Hazel sits down on the bed and Cha Cha sits down on her own. "We need to figure out who the hell these people are, because that, that is not fucking normal."

Hazel agrees within an instant.  
______________________________  
 ** _THE ACADEMY_**

I had wished for myself to appear wherever Diego was, knowing he would probably be more help than everyone else. I pop into Five's bedroom panting, bloody, bruised and several parts of my body feel like they're on fire at the moment.

Luther, Diego and Pogo look terrified. "Where have you been?" Luther asks strictly. "N-N-No, what happened to you?" Diego asks.

"Those two psychos did. Hazel and Cha Cha. Those are their names by the way. They took Klaus, hit me over the head and drugged me with some shit after I caught the male one hauling him off. Then they proceeded to torture the fuck out of Klaus while I was knocked out."

I brush myself off and say "Not sure where it was, but I managed to get myself out, wished myself out. Surprised it even worked. But here I am."

I looked around, trying to read the room before saying "Did I walk in on something?"

Pogo answers for both Luther and Diego. "No, not much. Why don't you get cleaned up and your brothers can fill you in on what's happened when you are done?"

"No. Tell me what the hell is going on?" I look around, for some sort of an answer.

"Those attackers last night-"

"Hazel and Cha Cha." I correct

"They turned mom off and well, now we're looking for Five." Luther says.

I shrug my shoulders "Okay, let's go. I'm ready."

"Are you sure? You look like shit Al." Diego says, unsure of what to think.

"I'm fine. Cmon let's go. We're wasting time by waiting." I say

"She's right Diego. Let's go." Luther says, waving us out of the bedroom area and down the stairs, through the various halls and out the door.

We walk down a few streets until we find Five's van. "THATS his van!" Luther calls out, and we all run after it. Eventually reaching it, Luther messed with the door handle before Diego goes to pick the lock.

They open the door and try to enter at the same time, always fighting over who goes first. I scoff, pushing them both aside and crawling inside and heading towards the back of the van.

Luther examines the front half of the Van while Diego and I take the back. I go through several of the drawers while Diego goes through his bag and finds a beat up, written in, copy of Vanya's book.

He whistles, signaling for our attention. "I know where to find Five." He says, pointing to the stamp on the book.

The Library. How come nobody thought of that sooner?

Once inside the library, we made the decision of splitting up. Probably a good idea since there were three of us and well a ton of fucking levels.

By the time we reached the third floor, I was beyond confused. Absolutely nothing. We'd searched this entire library, individually and there was no trace of our brother. I then look down the hall and say "I'm gonna go check down right here"

Diego starts talking seconds after I walk off . "You wanna know why I left Luther?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Why I left the academy." He says sullenly

"Yeah, cause you couldn't handle me being number one." Luther says as if it was the only option that could've ever existed.

"No. Cause that's what you do when you're seventeen. You move out, become your own person, grow up."

"Oh yeah. You're a real grown up." Luther retorts.

"At least I make my own decisions. Look, even Althea left and she's barely capable of taking care of herself."

Luther peers down the hall "She could hear you, you know."

"No. She won't. But listen. Everyone but you made it out. Including her and Klaus. However messed up they both are. They did."

Luther rolls his eyes "Althea can get anything she wants. You know that. She's manipulative, she's a well, you know, she can't even understand how someone else feels. Klaus depends on her for money most of the time and is a drug addict. They are the last people I'd considered to have grown up."

Diego scowls "So? They left, made their own home. So did I, Allison and Vanya. You were just a kiss ass. And by the way, she does too feel, You just have to watch. She tries, I can tell. Just like I could with mom." His voice cracks a little.

"Diego-" Luther interrupts

"Maybe it's not about why we left, maybe it's about why you stayed. Maybe you missed the way things were, when the academy was still together, the way things were with Allison. But hey, Dad's dead. So is Mom. We can't go back. And we never will."

"How many times have I told you to stop talking?" Luther says, not liking the idea of having to move forwards.

The two walk down the hall after hearing a few whispers and then find Five and the mannequin on the floor, books scattered around him while he's out cold. Drunk as a skunk.

I'm standing next to him, trying to get him up and to pry the bottle out of his hands. "A little help here?" I ask, not strong enough to lift either him or the mannequin up right now.

"Is he um?" Luther asks

I nod my head "Intoxicated? Oh hell yeah." I say motioning down to the empty bottles scattered around him. "Maybe he and Klaus can bond over their love of booze and drugs!" I giggle a little.

"Oh shit, Klaus! He's still with those psychos." I yell, getting shushed by both Luther and Diego.

"Oh sorry." I say, forgetting that we were in a public library.

Luther looks at me and nods "We can get Klaus later. Right now we have to deal with this." He says making a hand gesture to the mess that is our brother passed out on the floor.

Luther picks him up and the mannequin and soon after we leave, it's now nighttime and we decide on cutting through a couple of alley ways.

"We can't go back to the house. It's not safe now." Luther says, I nod my head in agreement.

"My place is closer. No one will look for him there." Diego says.

I trot along beside the two of them as Five starts to wake up from his little nap.

After a bit of chit chat it gets serious. "Two masked figures attacked the academy last night and they came looking for you, so we need you to focus."

I then pipe up "the same loonies from the department store, Hazel and Cha Cha."

Five sighs, clutching onto his mannequin like it's the only thing he lives for now. He grins and then says "You're loony too Althea.. aren't we all?"

I stay quiet for a second "That's not funny Five."

He snaps back quickly "I know it isn't. Well, they're the best of the best, except for me of course." He slurs out his words now.

Diego then snaps "HEY! I need you to focus, what do this Hazel and Cha Cha want?"

There's a silence before Diego continues "We just want to protect you."

I look over at Five and say "Klaus is probably getting beat up because of you Five!" I do a little twirl, looking up at the sky.

"I don't need your protection Diego. Do you have any idea how many people I've killed?" Five says snarkily.

Five starts rambling and I tune him out. "This is boring. Diego, are we almost at your place yet? I'm getting tired."

Diego turns his attention towards me "That's why you should've stayed home Al, you're tired." He pats the top of my head gently, ruffling my hair a little.

Finally, we had reached Diego's place. It had been a while longer, but I slumped down in a chair as Diego set the mannequin on the floor. I closed my eyes for a brief second before popping right back up. "I can't sleep now, I'm worried." I mumble.

Diego looks at Luther and then back at me. "That those psychos killed Klaus." He grins at Luther and mouthed "I told you so." Diego then pats my head for the second time tonight and says "Why don't you go lay down on my bed? Sleep Al. You deserve it."

I nod my head and then move over to his bed, collapsing on it, into a deep sleep. He smiles and then walks over to Luther, who is standing by Five.

Only to have the moment of peace interrupted by commotion at the door. Detective Patch finally needed Diego.

As Al, the land lord walked away he said "She said she found your brother." Diego's eyes drift from Five to Althea and then says "Well, shit. Klaus might be okay after all."

Diego slams the door as Luther says "Go, I'll watch Five and Althea." He sighs and walks over to a chair. "Guess I was wrong about a lot of things." He mutters.


	13. come together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the beatle's come together

**_THE FUTURE_ **

Five had to trudge along through the apocalypse with nothing but a wagon and a few supplies at first. Packed with Dolores, an umbrella and a box with random materials. This is how the first few years went. The poor teenager had nothing.

No idea of how anything happened, only owning an eye found in his dead brothers hand, no family, no nothing. Except for some dim wit hope and a mannequin.

Then he grew up and **_survived_** on whatever he could find, through rain and snow and sunshine. He had to make it. But for what? There was nothing left.

Although, as time went by, he upgraded his wagon, added some wheels, made it easier to get around the snow and whatnot. It made life a tiny bit easier for him. Which was a good thing, all things considered.

Years later, as an old man, he'd developed a bicycle to pull his small crate of items. He was trying as best as he could, and slowly enjoying it.

Till one day _she showed up._

_The woman in all black, her red lipstick and heels, promising to help fix all of his problems, but of course, not without a catch._

_________________________________   
**_THE PRESENT_ **

We were sitting in Diego's room, listening to Five as he finally told us what the hell was going on. Apparently. It was the end of the world. The apocalypse.

"When's this supposed to happen? This apocalypse?" Luther asks confusedly

"Well, I can't give you an exact hour but, from what I could gather we have four days left." Five says abruptly.

Four days. Till everything is gone. Everyone is gone. There are things I want to do that I haven't yet. Too many things I haven't said. I tremble a little "Why didn't you say anything sooner?" I ask pissed

Five looks at me tiredly "It wouldn't have mattered."

Luther is now pissed too. "Of course it would've! We could've banded together and tried to help you stop this thing."

"For the record you already tried." Five adds.

"What do you mean?" Luther asks impatiently.

"I found your bodies. All together." He frowns.

"We die?" Luther asks

I run a hand through my hair and lean back in the chair I'm sitting in. "Are you sure it was even us? There are probably lots of big families in the city." I wave my hands around.

"I could recognize your faces. But yes. You all die. Horribly."

I look at Luther and then at Five. My lip quivers for a second. Not liking how any of this sounds. Not that anyone would but, I definitely didn't want to ever hear this.

Five continues, looking down at the floor. "You were together. Trying to stop whoever it was, from ending the world."

"How do you know that?" Luther asks. Then Five pulls out the eye, the very eye that Five took to that doctor or whatever. The one where Klaus put on a good show. Then it all clicked in my head. 

"Wait...does that belong to the?"

"Person who tries to end the world? Yes, Althea it does. I was trying to figure out who it belonged to. Only, it was too late. Someone blew up the building. Well, I'm assuming it was Hazel and Cha Cha."

Diego bursts in, "piece of SHIT, do you have any idea what you just did?" He lunges at Five but Luther grabs him and I move in front of Five, my arms held out, keeping Diego from getting past me.

Luther holds onto Diego until he calms down, I look at him and cross my arms "What happened Diego? Did you find him? Did you find Klaus?" I ask,

He ignores me at first and then says "Our brother's been pretty busy since he got back. He was at that shoot out at Griddys-"

"What shoot out?" I look around confused, not having heard about it.

Diego continues on "and then at Gimble Brothers before the guys attacked the academy, looking for him." He thrusts his finger out, angrily pointing at Five.

Five rolls his eyes, clenching his fists "None of which is any of your concern."

"It is now." He scowls, looking around the room. "They just killed my friend." Diego scrunches his face up and Luther looks disappointedly down at Five.

Then he turns to me. "And no Althea, our druggie brother Klaus was not there. He's GONE, he probably ran off the first chance he got."

I sit down again. "You're lying." I say angrily. "You didn't even look."

"No I'm not Althea. He's a leech. He always has been." He scowls before turning his attention away from me.

Luther nudges him gently before whispering "Don't take your shit out on her."

Diego pushes him away and yells "Oh now you want to defend her? After all this time? Now you want to? Huh?"

I start ignoring the conversation. Finally Five breaks it up "Enough. This is stupid. Both of you cut it out. Althea can clearly fend for herself. Stop babying her."

Diego and Luther look down at Five and just stop talking, neither of them saying a word more on the subject.

I then change the subject "Who are they Five? Who are Hazel and Cha Cha?"

"They work for my former employer. She sent them." He says in a monotone voice. Soon enough out the door Diego went. Just like how he came.

"Former employer? What's this all about Five? And don't give me any of this it's not your business crap." Luther takes the charge once more.

"It's a long story." He says shrugging.

"Trust me. We've got time to hear it." I say, taking my seat once more.

________________________________  
 ** _THE FUTURE_**

The gun was aimed directly at her, she came out of nowhere, looking more crisp and polished than anyone he'd seen in years. She gave a wave and then stepped off her pile of rubble.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" Five called out, not lowering his weapon at the slightest.

 _"I'm here to help."_ She spoke gently, approaching Five slowly, heels clicking on the since ruined ground.

"Tell me why I shouldn't put a bullet through your head right now." He calls out

 _"Because if you did, you wouldn't hear the offer I'm about to make you. Which would be rather tragic, given your...current circumstances."_ She grinned, took her sunglasses off and plopped her little briefcase down, perkily.

She clearly didn't like the grime and dirt surrounded by her, as it was obvious in the way she leaned against the rubble rather than sat down on it.

_"I work for an organization called the commission. We are tasked with the preservation of the time and space continuum through manipulations and removals._

The man inched closer, slightly lowering his weapon. "I don't understand."

_"Sometimes people make choices that alter time..free will, when that happens we dispatch one of our agents to eliminate the threat."_

He raises his weapon again, thinking that perhaps she is here to kill him.

_"Oh no no, you misunderstand me, you're not a target. I've come to offer you a job Number Five. We've had our eyes on you for quite some time."_

The woman continues to smoke her long cigarette and then says _"we think you have a lot of potential...Your survival skills have made you quite the celebrity back at headquarters. That and your ability to jump through time."_

He looks conflicted at first "You're saying...I could actually leave here? g-g-go back?" He questions

" _In return for five years of service. Once your contract is over, you can retire to a time and place of your choosing...with a pension plan to boot."_ She grins, seeing that she's almost gotten him.

"If you can alter time, why not just stop any of this from ever happening?" He scowls motioning around to all the chaos and debris.

She looks around _"all of this...was supposed to happen."_

"You're crazy! The end of time?"

" _Not everything..just something."_ She doesn't grin or anything. She just stares at him with a blank face. Something he's seen before.

 _"So....do we have an agreement?"_ She holds out a hand and tilts her head ever so slightly.

__________________________________   
**_THE PRESENT_ **

".....but I do know none of them were as good as me." He wraps up the story and Luther and I sit there in complete and utter shock. "What in the actual hell."

"Not sure if I'd use those words, but yes Althea. Sure. What the hell." He sends me a light hearted grin.

"So..you were a hitman?" Luther asks confusedly

"Yes." Five answers, with no other explanation.

"Cool." I say nodding a little, not really seeing downsides to that.

"No, not cool. I mean you had a code right. You didn't kill just anybody did you?"

"No, no code. We took out anyone who messed with the timeline." Five answers once more.

"What about innocent people?" Luther asks intrigued.

"It was the only way I could get back here."

"But...that's murder."

"Jesus Luther, grow up. We aren't kids anymore. There's no such thing as good guys, or bad guys. There's just people going about their lives. But when the world ends, all those people die. Including our family." He sighs "Time changes everything."

_______________________________  
 ** _HOURS LATER_**

Klaus was back, terrified and upset. But he was back home and I was the one who managed to get Five to tag along and see how he was doing.

"Hey Klaus...where were you? You vanished after Hazel and Cha Cha. No one could find you."

He scowls when he sees me "Oh it's you, what happened to I'm coming back to get you?" He waves his hands around frantically before leaning in and hissing "WITH BACK UP."

"We had to deal with him Klaus. He was drunk and in a library." I scowl, pointing to Five. Who was too busy making his own observations about Klaus.

"I don't remember the dog tags." He says curiously

"Yeah. They belonged to a friend." He grunts a little.

"How about that new tattoo?" Five asks, pointing once more.

"You know! I don't even remember getting it. Like I said, it was a long night." He says angrily.

"What is up with you?" I question. This was weird, even for Klaus.

"What's up with me? You ABANDONED ME WITH FIVES LITTLE PSYCHO FRIENDS." He yells annoyed.

Five ignores this "You did it, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Klaus asks suspiciously.

"You know, I can recognize the symptoms Klaus."

"Symptoms of what?" I ask

"The jet lag, full body itch, headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up your nose and into your brain. You gonna tell us about it?" Five says eagerly.

He sneers "Your pals, when they broke into the house and couldn't find you, they took me and our little sociopath instead. Then she left me all alone-"

"And in return you stole their briefcase." Five smirks, thinking that maybe for once Klaus had something useful.

"I thought there was money in it, or I could pawn it, you know, whatever. And then I opened it."

"And the next thing you knew you were...where, or should I say when?" Five sits on the edge of his seat, anticipating what happened.

"What difference does it make?" He groans

"What diff- okay, how long were you gone?" He asks

"Almost a year."

"A year? All alone. That sucks for you." I frown as I say this.

"Do you know what this means?" Five turns to me, I shake my head no, as Klaus offhandedly says "I'm ten months older now?"

"No. This isn't any sort of joke Klaus. Hazel and Cha Cha will do whatever they can to get their briefcase, where is it now?"

"Gone. I destroyed it. Poof."

"What the hell were you thinking?" He scowls

"What do you care?"

"What do I care? I needed it you moron, I could go back. I could start over."

I look at Five and say "Look we'll figure something else out. Just leave Klaus to do...whatever this is. Okay?"

I was mad at Klaus now. Distinctively. He had called me a "little sociopath." It wasn't not true, but it still ached. I'd heard it enough times to the point as to where it hurt enough to sting. I stuck behind for a quick second, hoping for some sort of apology.

Instead I got a "h-hey, any chance you could loan me another gift?"

I scoffed. "Get Sober Klaus. Try again later." I walked out, following after Five. Not wanting to deal with Klaus. Even though it was my fault he was back and like this. Once again, I should've stayed.


	14. kool thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sonic youth's kool thing

"I've been in every pawn shop in town looking for our briefcase. You've been relaxing in the library."

"Well at least we know something on the family that can help." Cha Cha flashes Vanya's book. "It's like a Hargreeves family handbook. Let me tell you, they're a real freaking mess."

Hazel looks intrigued.

"Number Five can time travel without a brief case, but not very well.

The big oaf lived on the moon for a few years, the junkie can conjure the dead, which explains how he knew about the dead Russian yesterday.

The girl, can manipulate reality which explains how she vanished, or she can charm people into revealing their biggest desires. Get this, she'll either grant it or break their mental state. Apparently she did it to herself now she has bad mental issues. No morals. A sociopath.

The idiot in the mask can curve anything he throws, usually knives."

"Well he's the one we need to worry about now." Hazel says, cutting off Cha Cha

"Why?"

"Cause he's in the parking lot. Hiding behind an ice cream truck."   
_______________________________

"It's from Five."

"How'd he find us?"

"Well, he was us. He knows all the protocols."

"He says he has the brief case! He wants to set up a meeting. Come on, we're late already."

"What about our friends outside? Last thing we need is a tail."

"Manilla, 1902?" They sigh

"Let's just go with the ice bucket."

________________________________  
 ** _FIVE + ALTHEA + LUTHER_**

 _"_ You know I never enjoyed it." Five said quietly, as the three drove along the rode. Luther and Five upfront, I sat in the back, smack dab in the middle.

"What?" Luther asked, a little too into the peace and quiet.

"The killing. I mean...I was good at my work, and I...took pride in it, but it never gave me pleasure. I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind." Five shrugs and keeps driving on.

"It sounds fun, moving around, one job to the next. Seeing new places, different times. You know, seeing the world through a multitude of lenses." I say glancing out of the window, staring at the desert alongside us.

"Only you could find the positive in that, then again, you..." Five grins a little, stopping in the middle of his sentence, staring at the open road.

Luther steps in "Do you think they'll buy it?"

Five shakes his head "What I do know is that they're desperate. It's like a cop losing his gun if the commission finds out. They'll be in deep shit. Not to mention they'll be stuck here until they get it back."

"Well, I should hold onto it." Luther says, before adding "In case they make a move on you."

He thinks about it before saying "I mean, I've lived a long life, you're still a young man. You've got your whole life in front of you. Don't waste it."

Suddenly a car approaches us. Five hands Luther the briefcase gently "Here you go. If this all goes sideways, tell Dolores I'm sorry."

I roll my eyes, stepping out of the car and shutting the door at the same time they all do. Five looks over first, before turning to Luther.

"Uhh, Althea what are you doing? This is dangerous?" Luther says slowly.

"It's not. If I wanted to, I could kill them within seconds. It's not hard." I shrug looking over at their car and waving.

Five and Luther exchange a look and Five finally says "Fine stay...what? She's got a point and she clearly isn't going to be affected."

With that Five walks over to the two, leaving us in the distance. Spaceboy and The Devil. Number One and Number Eight. There was nothing much to say, so I mainly just spun around, enjoying the sound of my heels on scratching on the road.   
______________________________  
 **FIVE + HAZEL + CHA CHA**

"Maybe. But I'm sure as you found out in your previous foray, my brother and sister are not your average people."

"He's right, you dropped a chandelier on him and he got right up. Plus remember what you read about the girl? she's loony"

"Read about the what?" Five says, getting a little defensive, surprised to even be getting worked up about his sister, let alone the topic. "Nevermind that. By the time you took me out. You'd both be dead along with your briefcase."

"So..how do we help each other out?"

"I need to get in contact with your superior. So I can have a chat with her. Face to face." Five gives his signature grin.

"About what?" They question.

"Well I don't believe that's any of your concern."

Cha Cha sighs "Just don't tell her about the brief case."

Five turns around, looking back at his siblings. He smiles a little, just now realizing how much he missed them. The borderline craziness of Althea and the hero complex that was Luther. Despite their issues, they were still a family, they deep down cared.

The wind was blowing and then out of nowhere , the faint sound of music started to blare up.

An ice cream truck appeared out of no where, blazing down their path.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Five mumbles, looking as the ice cream truck comes flying by with Diego, Klaus and ghost Ben in the front. Confusing Hazel, Cha Cha, Five, Luther and Althea.

"Go faster!"

" _Whee!!"_

"It's a set up!" Cha Cha yells and the two immediately pull out their guns and start shooting.

Then, time starts to slow down, eventually freezing. Leaving the Handler and Five all alone.   
________________________________  
 ** _THE HANDLER + FIVE + ALTHEA?_**

"Neat trick, isn't it?" The Handler beams, turning her attention towards Five.

"Hello Five. You look good. All things considered. It's good to see you again. Feels like we just met yesterday, course, you were a little bit older then. Congratulations on the age regression, by the way. Very clever! Threw us all off the scent."

Five looks surprised "Ah, well I wish I could take credit. I just miscalculated the time dilation projections and...well you know, here I am."

She smiles "you realize your efforts are futile. So why don't you tell me what you really want?"

"I want you. To put a stop to it." He scowls

"You realize what you're asking me to do is impossible, even for me. What's meant to be is meant to be. That's our raison d'a' tree! I'll just be replaced." She hums

"I'm but a small cog..in a machine. This fantasy you've been nurturing, about summoning up your family to save the apocalypse is just that..a fantasy. I must say, we're all impressed with your initiative at corporate. Which is why we want to offer you a new position at the commission. In management!" She exclaims excitedly.

Five looks confused "Sorry, what now?"

"Come back to work with us. You know it's where you belong." She says clapping her hands together.

The Handler goes on to list all of his benefits he'd be receiving, until he hears a couple that really catch his ears.

"We have the technology to reverse the process and even, fix your sister up if you'd like. It's been such a drag seeing her not at her full potential because of a silly little accident." She pouts.

Five glances over at his frozen sister and sighs "Fine. We have a deal. As long as my family survives."

The Handler thinks about it briefly before saying "I'll see what I can do." She follows Five as he moves a bullet out of Luther's way. She grins before walking over to Althea, tapping her gently and coaxing her out of the time freeze.

"Five. Who is this?" Althea asks confusedly

"The Handler darling, and don't worry soon enough you'll be good as new" she coos softly into her ear.

Althea wrinkles her nose "I don't like this Five. Leave me out of whatever you're up to."

Five eyes the Handler suspiciously, tapping his sister again, allowing her to freeze back into time.

"What do you want with her? You hadn't even mentioned her to me at all till today." Five crosses his arms .

The Handler frowns "The Board of Directors think she'd be of use somewhere. While you have fascinating abilities, some of your siblings have far more interesting talents."

She walks around Althea and finally stops beside her "Besides. Don't you think she'd be happier without that horrible little incident?"

Five turns away and says "You're not touching my sister. She lives through the apocalypse like my other siblings. You don't touch her, fix her, or anything." He snarls.

The Handler steps away and says "Fine. Your loss Five."

"We have a deal." He reaches out and shook her hand.

Then time resumed. Leaving everyone else to regroup and zoom off. Away from trouble.


	15. zanny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> billie eilish's zanny

Here we were, yet another family meeting. This time we were all together and discussing the apocalypse, I sat quietly next to Klaus, watching as everyone debated what Five had told who.

"But how can we trust him? I don't know if you've noticed but Five's a little-" A whistle noise follows and I slump further into my seat, annoyed.

"Our little psycho!" Klaus says sarcastically, clasping his hands together with glee.

"I know how we can trust him." I say, catching everyone's attention all at once.

"Well yesterday, when the ice cream truck came down the road. His boss, the Handler, well she stopped time and made him a deal to save us! Then she unfroze me and was talking about how she could fix me. But Five said no and poof! Everything was back to how it was before it froze. I know, I know it sounds crazy! But it's real."

Everyone shares a glance that I haven't seen in a long time. Diego looks at Luther, Allison looks at both of them and Klaus just looks sad, slightly disappointed.

In fact Klaus is the first to speak "Sure you did.." and similar words follow.

"You guys don't believe me? You think I'm loosing it don't you? You think it's happening again?"

"It's not that, it's just. Come on, that sounds crazy Al." Diego says gently.

Allison nods and says "No ones saying anything. But why don't you go lay down? Rest a little bit. Come back later?"

I scowl. "I'm fine. I don't need to rest. I'm completely fine." I sit up in my chair and watch everyone continue. Even though I could catch the side glances I kept getting.   
_______________________________  
 **THE MEETING MINUS VANYA**  
 **(THIRD PERSON POV)**

Leonard and Vanya entered the academy under the impression they would just be stopping by to share the news of her getting the first chair position. Only things slowly get weirder and worse on the visit.

"Maids day off?" Leonard asks, glancing over at the Robot who had practically raised the children.

"Growing up we called her Mom." Vanya answered, trying to be polite, still not used to having someone who listened to her, and was interested.

"How come you're not in any of these?" Leonard asks as he examines the framed portraits on the wall, covered with the academy over the years, and even some of the articles and magazine covers lay framed as well.

The number of siblings in each one seems to drop by at least one in each of the portraits. They were striking to say the least.

"It's always about the umbrella academy, I just didn't make the cut. Also, beware. Some of my siblings can be...brutal." She sighs as they start to hear voices coming from the main living room.

Pointing to the one family meeting that was going on.

"Just now you're telling me?" Diego yells, just now finding out about the apocalypse.

Vanya tries to usher Leonard away from the various Umbrella Academy memorabilia items and towards the living room.

"Is it just us?" Someone yells

"No it's everybody" Luther yells back

"In the house?" Allison asks

"No you morons! The whole PLANET" Althea yells louder than anyone else.

Just then Leonard and Vanya enter the room, all goes silent as two strangers to the conversation enter the room.

Althea looks Leonard over and rolls her eyes before scoffing and nudges Klaus so he turns his attention over to him as well.

The two had seemed to have come back together, no longer in an argument about her leaving him behind.

"Hey." Vanya says softly "What's going on?" She asks

"It's a family matter." Allison says, more or less directed towards Leonard and not Vanya

"A family matter." Vanya says sullenly. "So you couldn't even bother to include me."

"No it's not like that, we were-" Allison gets cut off again.

"Don't let me interrupt." She says.

Althea stomps her foot and then looks over Vanya impatiently "Vanya, if you bothered to stay around long enough, or not bring some random ass guy here, maybe we would include you more, or even trust you. Just a thought for the road."

"Al! Don't listen to her Vanya, she's ...."

Vanya looks at Althea sadly

"I'm what?" Althea sneers, turning around to face Allison. "I'm not the one with court mandated therapy am I?"

Allison looks at Althea for a second before turning back to Vanya "I'll fill you in later when we're alone. Okay?"

"Please don't bother." Vanya says, clearly having enough of the situation. Leonard however, seems more fixated on Althea and the rest of the group.

Which Diego and Althea both pick up on as she stares him down, watching as he eventually looked away from her.

"Vanya that's not fair!" Allison cries out

"There's nothing fair about being your sister. I have been left out of everything for as long as I can remember. And I used to think it was dad's fault but now he's dead. So it turns out your the assholes."

Vanya storms out, followed by Leonard and soon after by Allison.

Leonard leaves his coat behind and Althea picks it up curiously, heading into the memorabilia room that Vanya and Leonard had entered from.

______________________________  
 ** _ALTHEA + THE END OF THE WORLD_**

I picked up his coast uneasily, I didn't like him and from what I could tell, neither did Allison or Diego. I walked back through the hall they came from and set his coat down on one of the chairs. 

I stood in front of my own portrait and steadily watched as he soon enough, entered the hall, without Vanya in tow. "You forgot your jacket Leonard." I sneer, practically shoving it in his direction.

I watch as his eyes glance over all of the Academy's awards, photos, portraits, toys, whatever. "Are you a fan?" I ask daintily.

He shakes his head no and says "I was always more of a Spider-Man kind of guy." We both exchange a fake laugh and I roll my eyes. "Don't let me catch you in mu house again , you fucking freak. Got it? I'll come after you myself. Assuming you know me, you don't want that."

With that I walk out, leaving him to whatever the hell he was doing. I didn't care. I just didn't want to see him in my family's house ever again and the living room was empty by the time I got back.

Whatever happened to saving the world? Nothing I guess. It all crumbled to the ground and into nothing, just like the world would do in less than four days.

How to spend the last few day's on earth knowing everyone was doomed? I wasn't too sure. But I wanted to start somewhere and it probably shouldn't have been my old training room.

All alone, curled up on the metal floor. That's what I was doing. Thinking back to the one of the last times I'd used this. Right before the incident. It was abandoned now. Mainly because I'd left.

Screw this. It felt stupid. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do but this wasn't it. So I headed up to my bedroom, flipping through my suitcase till I finally found it. My phone. I'd buried it under all my clothes, not wanting to hear a single fucking notification.

Plucking my old headphones off of my nightstand I plugged them in and sank back into my bed, enjoying the mind numbing sound of music.

Into a dream. Where everything was different. I wasn't special, I didn't have powers, I could fully understand people's emotions, I didn't fuck up my head, I wasn't apart of the Umbrella Academy because it didn't exist anymore.

What bliss. Where I had friends and a life and did normal people things, went to prom, got a regular car for my 16th birthday. Had parents who weren't a robot and a neglectful asshole and his monkey friend.

Normal. That's what I wanted that's what I wished for. But could I have it? No.

Oh shit. I had done it again. By complete and utter accident. I bolted up seconds later, choking, unable to breath. Similar to how I felt just before I heard about my father.

I pulled myself up and hobbled over to the bedroom door, banging on it furiously before managing to open it and fall flat on the ground. Only this time, unlike the first, there was no one around.

No one to help me start breathing again, no one to undo the tricks or magic my own brain had put on me. The last thing I hear being the clock striking twelve. There was nothing at all. Absolutely nothing.

**_THEN THE DAY CEASED TO EXIST_ **


End file.
